Melt
by tears-in-rain
Summary: Peace has finally been declared between the Naturals and the Coordinators, and Dearka and Miriallia are continuing their relationship blissfully. But unfortunately, not everyone shares the same desire for peace and unity as they do.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first Gundam SEED fic and I guess it's set in the two years between GS & GSD and it follows Miriallia and Dearka's relationship as they go through a changing world. It actually gets a bit darker than I originally intended and deals with discrimination much like what was going on during The African-American Civil Rights Movement, but there's some sweetness in there to. It can also get a bit repeative at times, so sorry about that._

_Oh yeah, I own nothing. _

* * *

Miriallia Haww rolled over in her soft bed, burying her face deeper into the pillow beneath her head. The sun shining through her window informed her that it was high time she should be getting up, but her bed was far too warm and inviting for her to want to venture out of. She could hear her parents talking in the kitchen as they made themselves breakfast, and the smells from their efforts was enough to divide Miriallia between the desire to remain encased in the warmth of her bed or to get up and feed to grumbling stomach. That decision was made for her when a pair of bronze arms wrapped around her from behind and Dearka Elsman snuggled his face into her back, firmly holding her where she lay.

Far from objecting to her confinement, Miriallia moved backwards into her boyfriends embrace, falling deeper into the lulling warmth of her bed and its occupants. A few months ago, they would have never been allowed this kind of leisure due to the fact Mirialla's father would freak if he found the blonde Coordinator sleep in his little girls bed, but after the many times the two teens ignored his rules Miriallia's father eventually gave up, though not before issuing Dearka a threat or two. And oddly, Dearka come to find that his favourite part of sleeping in Miriallia's bed was when they didn't do anything at all, but rather just spooned together and enjoy each other warmth before someone came to advise them to get up lest they sleep till noon.

Dearka felt the Natural shift in his arms till she was facing him, but he continued to hold her and kept his eyes closed. As long as he pretended to be asleep, she wouldn't make him get up and do something productive with his Sunday. He could feel her turquoise eyes on him, however, and it was starting to make him feel a little uneasy. It's hard to relax when one is being watch so intently, and it was equally as difficult when said watcher began lightly edging her fingertips into his hair.

"Do you mind?" he mumbled sleepily, and he knew without looking that she was grinning. She did not remove her fingers from his blonde mane. Opening one amethyst eye, Dearka looked at the Natural who had altered the course of his life so dramatically. She did look adorable with her hair all a mess and turquoise eyes shining playfully but that did not excuse her from patting him like a dog. "Stop that and go make me breakfast, woman."

Miriallia's eyes widened in melodramatic shock and she gasped loudly. "Excuse me, Elsman, but I don't think you qualified to issue such orders in this house."

"Why not? I happen to outrank you, after all," Dearka pointed out calmly, but his argument did little to impress his girlfriend.

"I'm not a part of the military any more."

"So?"

"So, you can't use that for an excuse."

"But when I first met you, you were and that's what I'm going off. What you're doing now is of no concern to me."

"When you first met me, we were fighting on opposite sides of the war and I went at you with a knife," Miriallia seemed to recall. "Do you really want to go back to that stage in our relationship?"

"Well, if that knife comes with a fork and some bacon and eggs, yeah. Why not?" Dearka smirked, and was rewarded with Miriallia slamming her pillow into his face. Least it wasn't a knife. Miriallia made a second attempt at hitting her boyfriend, when Dearka used his enhanced abilities to quickly gain the upper hand. In no time at all, he disarmed the Natural of her 'weapon' and pinned her underneath him to avoid her making any further attacks. "Now, are we going to be a good little girl and go get your man breakfast in bed?"

"Man? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" Miriallia spat with feigned venom, struggling to try and get free from the soldiers grip despite the fact that she knew how hopeless that was. "Let me go!"

"Not likely," Dearka leered down at her. Her thrashing around beneath him was giving him ideas so he wasn't in any hurry to stop it. Plus, he always though she looked cutest when she was angry. "But if you be nice, I'll let you go, or you can be very nice and we can stay like this a little longer."

"Not likely," Miriallia mocked, but she couldn't hide her playful tone as successfully as Dearka. All those years of messing with Yzak and trying to keep a straight face had allowed Dearka to develop a very convincing poker face.

"Be nice or else . . ."

"Or else what?"

"Or else I'll . . ." Dearka trailed off, leaning forward, his look mischievous and determined.

"Dearka! No! Don't you dare! Dearka!" Miriallia squealed, squirming to get free. After being with the Coordinator for so long, she had fell victim to some of his forms of torture, and more importantly she had learnt how to recognize when he planned to use them. Miriallia fought desperately to keep his face away from hers, but he easily managed to get past her defences and slowly dragged his tongue across her face from jaw to hairline, drenching her in saliva and perfuming her in morning breath that not even Coordinators were immune to. "Dearka! You're feral!"

"I warned you," the boys grinned, leaning back slightly. He didn't, however, get off her.

"You're gross!" Miriallia punched him, which only made the blonde grin wider.

"You like it," he beamed down at her, and as much as she hated it, Miriallia knew he was right. No matter how vulgar and irritating Dearka could be, she knew she wouldn't want to change one thing about him because she knew that underneath it all there was that small pocket of sweetness and understanding that she adored. Dearka may be a solider willing to go through the worst for what he believed in, but he also had a surprising level of depth which he hide behind his arrogance and vanity. It was that depth and unexpected understanding that had made Miriallia come so attached to him on the Archangel. In her time of grieving, Dearka had shown her unanticipated support and sympathy. He had seen death countless times over the years and had lost many that he cared deeply for, so he had developed a very patient and collected approach to grieving. He had been the only one not to lose his head after the death of Nicol, and he had offered that support and guidance to Miriallia as she tried to recover from the loss of Tolle.

Miriallia knew that she could never forget Tolle. He had been her first real boyfriend and she didn't believe that she'd ever find another boy who was as kind and selfless as he was. Dearka was nothing like him, and in a way Miriallia was rather grateful for that fact. She didn't think she could handle finding someone like that again simply because she wouldn't be able to go through that pain if she was ever to lose them. Tolle was sweet, caring, loyal and noble and while Dearka had elements of that, it was nothing compared to the way Tolle had been. Dearka was arrogant, self-centred and extremely vain, but over time Miriallia had come to love all those things about him just as much as she loved Tolle for his virtues.

Dearka was worlds away from Tolle, and that's how she liked. Dearka was ambitious and at times could be extremely impulsive so he was constantly surprising her and forcing her to surprise herself. She could still remember one morning when Dearka had woken up with the idea of teaching her to pilot a mobile suit, something she had never even considered before. And although she had been shot down only a matter on minutes into the simulation, she had managed to get it moving which was more than she had anticipated. Dearka also had an untameable mischief streak in him, and he had recruited her into his devious plans – which were usually against Yzak – on more than one occasion.

In a world that had seemed so dark and bleak after the death of Tolle, Dearka had been Miriallia's ray of light that had brought out of her depressive state and introduced her to a world of adventure and fun that she had never even know. He could usually find something entertaining in the most mundane circumstances such as the time when they had accompanied Miriallia's mother while she went clothes shopping, something Miriallia found brain numbingly boring since her mother insisted in shopping at the most uninteresting department in the entire planet. But with Dearka there, Miriallia had actually been disappointed when it was time to leave, mainly because he was still two points ahead of her in their game of what could very vaguely be called tag, though it did involve a lot of collecting random products the store had on offer and complex rules that neither of them couldn't really remember how they came about.

Dearka was a bit of an enigma since it was impossible to know exactly what was going inside that blonde head of his at any given moment as his thoughts could range anywhere between the deepest, mediating thought to the most hair brained scheme possible. And Miriallia found that she wouldn't change him in the slightest, though she'd prefer if he'd refrained from licking her.

"You're like some kind of dog," Miriallia told him simply, making the Buster pilot grin wider. Any chance of him commenting back was cut off by a sudden knock at the door. Out of pure habit, Dearka quickly scrambled off the girl beneath him and a second later Miriallia's father stuck his head through the door, and Dearka couldn't help but recalled exactly what the old man threatened to do if he ever caught the Coordinator doing anything inappropriate with his daughter.

"If you two want any breakfast I suggest you get up now," the older man informed the two teenagers, a slightly disapproving look on his face. It wasn't that he didn't like Dearka – far from it – but he was still the father of an attractive teenage daughter so he had every right to be a tad over protective of her, regardless of how much he may actually like her beau.

"Dad!" Miriallia wailed in feigned anguish, point accusingly at the blonde in the bed next to her. "He licked my face like a dog!"

Her father observed the blonde Coordinator, who was sporting a very convincing innocent look, and tried desperately not to smile back. "Well, you always did want a dog, sweetie, and now I guess you have one."

"Dad!" Miriallia pouted while Dearka burst out laughing at Miriallia's father's indifferent tone.

"Just make sure he's house trained," her father told her, turning to leave. "Now get up you two. You're not sleeping till dinner again."

"We've never done that!" Miriallia shouted after him as he returned to the kitchen. A little disappointed at her father's lack of enthusiasm to protect her from slobbering Coordinators, she turned to regard said slobbering Coordinator. "Well, come on boy. Let's go see if we can find you a bone for breakfast."

"Are you gone to treat me like a dog all day?" Dearka asked, getting up and following her out to her kitchen to breakfast.

"I might," Miriallia shrugged, looking back over her shoulder at him. "You do kinda look like a Labrador, you know."

"Hey!"

"What? You do. And if you're lucky I'll take you for a walk into town and we can go play fetch in the park," Miriallia grinned as she moved over to the fridge to retrieve her morning juice.

Dearka stared at her with one eyebrow raised in a questioning expression. "You're not going to put me on a leash, now are you?"

"Well it is the law," Miriallia shrugged, turning her back to him to retrieve a glass from the cupboards, and in doing so missed Dearka's sly smile. Moving silently on his bare feet, the Coordinatior positioned himself behind her and put his mouth next to her ear so he could whisper into it without her parents overhearing.

"I always knew you liked it kinky."

"Dearka!"

* * *

After breakfast and the rest of their morning routine, Miriallia decided to take Dearka for a walk into town, but she didn't leash him like she had promised, which the Coordinator seemed somewhat disappointed about. After the war, Miriallia had returned to live with her family within the boarders of the nation of Orb. Out of all the nations affected but the Bloody Valentine War, Orb was without a doubt recovering the quickest. The capital city was slowly being rebuilt after its destruction during the war, Cagalli Yula Athha was conducting a successful reign over the nation with Athrun Zala by her side and the invisible walls that always seemed to exist between Naturals and Coordinators seemed to finally be coming down. While everyone knew that it might take a little long in other parts of the worlds of Naturals and Coordinators to truly accept one another's existence, Orb was leading the way into a more peaceful and tolerant world.

"I thought I was supposed to be a dog, not a horse," Dearka grumbled as he was forced to carry his girlfriend on his back through the streets of the completed half of the city.

"You're both," Miriallia told him, craning her neck so she could observe the new sky scarpers that had been finished a few weeks ago. In a matter of time it would be filled with works from some unknown businesses who would be aiming the advance the economy of Orb. And all was cropping up where it had been a flattened shell of a city not long ago. Returning her attention to her grumbling boyfriend, Miriallia swiftly kicked him with her heels. "Now giddy up!"

"Yah!" Dearka shouted, galloping forward so suddenly that Miriallia almost toppled off his back. Clutching him around his neck, Miriallia laughed breathlessly when the couple finally arrived outside the coffee shop they desired. Dearka on the other hand, was just breathless. "Chock me why don't you?"

"I'll do it later," Miriallia promised as she entered the shop. Her boyfriend followed behind her, rubbing his throat where she had held him so tightly. Ignoring his suffering, the auburn haired girl practically skipped up to the counter where she was greeted by a young girl about her age that worked there.

"Hi, how can I help you?" the girl asked.

"Can I just have a cappuccino with light milk, please?" Miriallia ordered, before looking at the blonde standing next to her. "And he'll have a mocha."

"And if it's not too much to ask, would it be possible not to have that in liquid form?" Dearka asked in a serious tone, but was met with a baffled look by the girl taking their order.

"Just ignore him," Miriallia suggested to the girl with a slight roll of the eyes. "I try too."

"You're not a very good girlfriend," Dearka told her after they had paid for their drinks and were waiting to one side for them to be made. He grabbed as many sugar packets as his fist could manage, but Miriallia managed to snatch them off him before he could stuff them into his pockets.

"And why is that?" she asked, returning the sugar packets back to where Dearka had grabbed them from. It was never good whenever the blonde ate sixteen packets or more of raw sugar like she knew he was intending to do. She was surprised that his teeth hadn't rotted away yet.

"You're supposed to back me up with those kind of things, not just tell people to ignore me," Dearka pouted, taking another grab for the sugar which the Natural blocked. "You're almost as bad as Yzak."

"You tried to make Yzak into a good girlfriend?" Miriallia asked, a playful smirk on her face.

"Oh, everybody a comedian, ay?" Dearka said sarcastically, managing to slip a packet of two of sugar into the palm of his hand while Miriallia was focused on his face.

"Who's a better kisser? Me or Yzak?"

"I dunno. I think a little bit more research is needed first," Dearka smirked, leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers and distracting her enough to get his hands on some more sugar which he quickly shoved into his jacket pockets. Miriallia was beaming when he pulled back, and Dearka knew the correct answer to her question. "Yzak, definitely."

"You jerk," Miriallia laughed, hitting him in the stomach but she couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face. Still smiling, Miriallia reached into his pockets and removed all the sugar packets he thought he had taken without her knowing. "But I guess you're kinda sweet."

"Not anymore I'm not," Dearka commented someone sadly as he looked at all the sugar she had just returned from his possession.

"I think you are," Miriallia beamed at him as the order before theirs came up. The couple moved aside to make way for the customer of that order, who was a young mother with two little children; one was just a baby who was currently restrained in its pram, while the other was a boy who looked to be about three years old and was free to walk on his own. Dearka was waiting for the right moment to make another move on the sugar packets when he noted something happening out of the corner of his eye. The young mother was reaching passed her drink in order to get the shaker that contain powered chocolate that she planned to sprinkle on the top of her drink, but as she moved her hand back she accidentally knocked the foam cup, which over balanced and started to fall off the edge of the counter and began to descend down onto the little three year old below.

With his enhance abilities and quick reflexes, Dearka took firm hold of the back of the little boys overalls with one hand and quickly jerked him out from under the falling scolding liquid. With his free hand Dearka reached out and grabbed the falling cup and in doing so prevented most of it slipping to the ground and possibly into the pram but also succeeded in burning his hand with the hot liquid.

"Joshua!" the woman cried, rushing to gather the little boy Dearka had pulled out of harms way into her arms. The boy was in tears after the shock of suddenly being jerked backwards, but other than that he was alright. The frantic mother looked up and the boy who had saved her son from a scolding, and Dearka could see the fear and relief in her eyes. "You saved him. Thank you so much. If you hadn't grabbed him . . ."

"It's nothing. Really," Dearka assured her, setting the now half empty cup back down on the counter and shaking the drink off his hand. "But you're welcome."

"My hero," Miriallia smiled at her boyfriend while the mother tended to her wailing three year old. Not breaking eye contact with the blonde, the Natural rewarded him with a single packet of sugar and a kiss that was even sweeter.

"I'm a lot of things today, aren't I?" Dearka mused. "First I'm a dog, then a horse and now a hero. Wait till I tell Yzak. He always said I'd never amount to anything and now in one day I can prove him wrong."

"You're pretty quick, boy," a deep voice noted. Dearka's little rescue had grabbed the attention of everyone in the coffee shop and not all of them were as thankful and amazed as the little boys mother was. The man that had spoken was very tall with dark features and he was looking at Dearka with a mistrust that was almost hostile.

"I try to be," Dearka replied cautiously, feeling very weary of the way the man was acting towards him. The man was being civil enough, but there was something about the way his dark eyes burned into him that made Dearka feel uncomfortable.

"But is that natural talent or something else?" the man asked, taking a step toward the couple. There was a slightly limp while his left leg and as he put it down, a metallic clunk reached Dearka's sensitive ears. The man was an amputee with an artificial leg, the Coordinator realized, and he knew it was no doubt because he lost it in battle during the Bloody Valentine War. The scars on the back of his hands must have come from the war also.

"I just happened to be paying attention at the right time," Dearka shrugged off, not wanting to revile too much to this man. Something about the way he was acting simply screamed that he wasn't to be trusted. Miriallia seemed to sense her boyfriend's discomfort, and clutched onto his arm for assurance.

"Of course," the man smiled, but it reminded the ZAFT solider of some wild animal bearing its fangs. The two teenagers drinks were suddenly finished and placed on the counter. Without a word, the couple claimed their drinks and headed for the exit despite the fact that they had originally intended to drink their coffee in the shop. Luckily this shop only served their drinks in disposable cups and Dearka felt the mans eyes on him the entire time and didn't feel comfortable till he was out of that shop.

* * *

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry guys. I forgot I had this fic going. I wrote it all in a gallop after I finished watching the series and it distracted me for my other fic's, and now my other fic's are distracting me from this one. Oh, the irony. Anyways, I'm trying to get all my fic's up before I leave to go work at the snow so I just have to edit the other chapters and then I'll get them up for you to read ASAP._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Miriallia leaned backwards on the garden wall she was sitting on and breathed deep. The soft afternoon sun warmed her pale skin and the natural perfume of the garden behind her lulled her mind into a peaceful state. After spending the last few hours developing film and pictures in the dark room and smelling the chemicals that made such things possible, the openness of the bright world outside was a welcome change. (1)

After discharging herself from the military, Miriallia had followed her dream of being a professional photographer and had enrolled in a course at a local collage in order to learn the skills she would need. She was currently topping her class and had sold a few of her photos covering events in Orb to a newspaper, something she hoped to continue in the future. Dearka was gone for the day on his official ZAFT businesses, and the Natural took the time to truly enjoy the silence. The blonde Coordinator could be quiet when he wanted to be, but no one could deny that he didn't like the sound of his own voice.

So Miriallia retained still, calmly absorbing the warm of the sun basking down on her.

"Miriallia?"

Opening her eyes, the auburn hair girls turquoise eyes widened when she saw a boy slightly older than her standing in front of her. The boy was dressed in casual clothes with his brown hair messy and wavy and his green eyes looking at her uncertainly.

"Nate?" Miriallia gasped, her throat suddenly going tight. For a second there she had almost thought it had been Tolle standing in front of her. It was scary how much the two cousins looked alike.

"I thought it was you," Nate grinned, moving over to embrace the girl that had been dating his cousin at the time of his death. Miriallia returned the hug awkwardly. While she still maintained contact with Tolle's parents, she wasn't certain if she was comfortable being with the rest of his family. After all, she had only known them through Tolle, and didn't know if they would ever forgive her for moving on. She had kept fighting, even after she had seen the losses that could occur, and it was while she was fighting she had met the boy she was currently seeing. She hadn't exactly leapt head first into a relationship with Dearka – she needed time to grieve which Dearka patiently endured – but she wasn't grieving anymore. She'd never forget Tolle, but she couldn't let her death stop her from living now. That's not what Tolle would have wanted.

"What are you doing here?" Miriallia asked as Nate took as seat next to her on the garden wall.

"I'm actually an apprentice with one of the major construction companies that are rebuilding Orb," Nate explained with a smile. "I'm getting tones of experience here and if I ever decide to leave my job I'll be able to find employment with any other company if it says I helped fix up Orb on my resume. What about you?"

"I'm in the middle of a photograph course at the moment," Miriallia said, holding up her camera as proof.

"So, you're not in the military any more?"

"No. I've seen enough of war," Miriallia sighed. She was still kept up to date with what was going on in the world, but she no longer had any desire to have a hand in it. She believed death war had lost all its dignity when thousands could be killed by one man hitting a button. The destruction of the Earth Forces head quarters JOSH-A in Alaska and men like Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael made her never doubt her choice to resign from the military. She now cared more about the human side of war, and the effects the actions of the world leaders had on the general public.

"I bet you have. But you're doing photography now. That's pretty cool. You any good?" Nate asked, and Miriallia gave him a modest shrug before pulling out her art book and handing it to him. Inside the worn pages was every photo she had developed through out her course from her extremely good to her embarrassingly bad. Nate, however, found them all to be works of art. "These are fantastic."

"Thank you," Miriallia blushed slightly. She was constantly being told how great her work was, but she still hadn't learnt how to accept such complements without feeling embarrassed. "But they're nothing, really."

"No, they're really good. You could go pro with these," Nate assured her, looking at a black and white photo of Cagalli and Kira. The twins had their backs to one another, their posture almost identical with their opposite hair colours juxtaposing one another. Both Cagalli and Kira had demanded copies of the photo when Miriallia had shown them the finished product of the shot that had taken over an hour to set up, and it still stood as one of Miriallia's most favorite photo's. "That's Kira Yamato and Princess Cagalli, isn't it?"

"That's them."

"It's hard to believe the Kira turned out to be related to royalty," Nate thought allowed. He had met all of his cousin's friends before the destruction of Heliopolis, and still found it hard to believe that pretty much all of them would end up in the final battle between ZAFT and the Earth Forces. "I'll always remember Kira as being a bit of a clown who always rushed into things without thinking despite him being so smart. Who would have thought he'd end up being a Coordinator."

Miriallia frowned at her friends words. There was something about the way he said the word 'Coordinator' that made it sound like an insult. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just that Kira was always so normal. So friendly. I would never have picked him to be something unnatural, even if he was super smart."

"Coordinators aren't anything 'unnatural'. They're still human and they can be just as normal as a Natural. They may be able to do a lot of things we can't, but they aren't above human error or anything like that," Miriallia noted, recalling the time when Dearka had spent ten mintues trying to breaking into his car after locking the keys in there, only to discover that the passenger door had been unlocked the entire time. "And Coordinators are just basically Naturals with exceptional skills. Mu La Flaga was a Natural and yet he managed to give Rau Le Creuset and his ZAFT boys a good run for their money."

"Maybe, but you can't deny that there's something kinda wrong with messing around with a person genetic composition. It's like humans are trying to play God or something."

"Some of the greatest people I ever met are Coordinators," Miriallia responded coldly. "And you do know it's against the Orb's ideals to discriminate someone based on how they were born?"

"You're right. Sorry," Nate smiled apologetically. "I guess that's just old prejudice coming through. Let's change the topic; so what have you been doing with yourself besides school?"

"Not much. I still keep in touch with all my old friends, but I've been spending a lot of time with Cagalli. We got to know each other during the war and since we both live near each other we're always hanging out. Plus it helps since we have the same group of friends. Whenever Kira and Lacus come down from the PLANTS they always go see Cagalli and Athrun and usually me and Dearka are there too."

"Dearka?" Nate repeated, noticing the warm tone of her voice when she said his name. "That's right, I heard you were seeing someone new. What's he like?"

"A bit of a goofball, but I really like him," Miriallia answered, touching her hair nervously. She really didn't feel comfortable talking about her new relationship with a family member of her late boyfriend. It just made her feel somewhat guilty for some reason.

"That him?" Nate asked, pointing to one of the photos in her art book that she had taken of Dearka.

"Yeah."

"Where's he now?"

"He's off on business today. He's always coming down to Earth to inform Orb on news from the PLANTS. Cagalli believes that communication between Earth and space is the best way to maintain peace," Miriallia explained. "He comes down with the Coordinators Representative to report on what's going on in his division of the ZAFT army."

"So . . . he's a Coordinator," Nate realized. He tried to keep his face straight, but Miriallia could see a small amount of disgust and hate swelling in his green eyes.

"So what if he is?" Miriallia shrugged, trying her best not to sound too cold. "I don't think it really matters what he is as long as I'm happy with him."

"But how can you . . ." Nate stared, but trailed off as he tried to keep his prejudice from showing. He was in the wrong nation to do that. "I mean, don't you remember that it was a Coordinator that killed Tolle?"

"I know, but if we seek vengeance for every person that was killed, then peace will only be obtained when the human race has been completely eradicated," Miriallia pointed out sadly. Cagalli's and Lacus's speeches for peace kept repeating over and over again in her mind, and she knew they were right. Killing all you enemies in the name of peace and revenge were not the answer. Tolerance and forgiveness were the only keys to their unhappiness. "It was because Kira killed a ZAFT solider that made Athrun try to avenge him, and Tolle was killed because he got caught up in that battle so – "

"Wait! Athrun killed Tolle?" Nate interrupted, his eyes blazing in undisguised hate. "If you're spending time with Cagalli then that means you've been keeping company with the Coordinator that murdered my cousin!"

"It's not like that!"

"How could you do that to Tolle?" Nate accused. "How could you just forget about him like that?"

"I've never forgotten him! I – "

"You did forget him the second you befriended those Coordinators! From the very first time you kissed that Dearka! How could you do it? You've replaced Tolle with a murderer!"

"No! I – "

"How could you even consider being with a monster like that? Have you no self respect? I thought I knew you, Miriallia! I thought that you were a respectable girl but after you've been with that . . . that . . . _freak_ I don't think I want to know you anymore. How could you betray Tolle like this?"

"Tolle wanted to fight for the sake of protecting Kira – a Coordinator – because he was able see passed the prejudice surround Coordinators. He died fighting for that cause. I'm not the one betraying Tolle, Nate. You are!" Miriallia growled, her eyes filling with water but she wasn't sure if it was because she was hurt by Nate's callous words or from rage. How could be speak about Coordinators as if they weren't even human? They were just as human as Naturals were. Miriallia knew of no other person in existence that was as selfless and charming as the Coordinator Lacus Clyne. Coordinators weren't evil, it was human natural that was the real evil of the universe. Muruta Azrael had been a Natural, and yet he had killed countless people with his nuclear weapons.

"You're being a fool," Nate hissed coldly, closing her art book. He purposely let it drop to the ground and got to his feet. "And you're not worth my time."

"Good! As if I'd want to spend _my _time with someone as ignorant as you!" Miriallia shouted after his retreating form. Visibly shaking with rage, Miriallia muttered some curses she had learnt after spending time with Yzak before trying to get her temper under control. Breathing deep, Miriallia crouched down to collect her art book. Several of her photos had fallen loose from the photo corners holding them to the pages of the books and she wordlessly gathered them up. She noticed with dismay that her black and white photo of Cagalli and Kari and been bent slightly, and she muttered another string of curses. When she had gathered all the lose photos, she stared down at the pile in her hands.

The very top photo was one she had taken of Dearka when her class was given the assignment to try and recreate some shots that resembled the work of photographer Man Ray (2). She could still remember the night she had forced Dearka to stand waist deep in the water at one of Orb's beaches. His bear chest gleamed from the water that clung the his skin, and his bronze body was darker in places where his girlfriend had rubbed dirt into him in order to achieve the dirty look the artist was aiming for. His long fingers were lightly touching the seemingly black surface of the water, and behind him the lights of the city burned. The photo was without a doubt one of the finest – if not the finest – photo she had ever taken, and the way Dearka's amethyst eyes stared directly into the camera in that sad, almost haunted look against his blank face stirred within Miriallia the need to protect the boy that seemed so valuable in the photo. Dearka had laughed when she had told him that, but that was just how she felt. Dearka may be a solider with enhanced abilities, but he was still human.

And he wasn't a murderer, no matter what Nate said.

It was then that Miriallia realized that there were tears streaming down her face, and she broke down into deep sobs for a reason she couldn't name.

* * *

"Impossible!" Cagalli Yula Athha snapped, slamming her fist down on the dark wood table in front of her. "Orb is a peaceful and neutral nation! According to the ideals, no one within the boarders of our nation is to discriminate against anyone, be it Natural of Coordinator! Everyone within our nation is supposed to abide by that belief! There's no way we would let anything like this happen!"

"Miss Cagalli, I can understand why the possibility of such a faction within our boards angers you, but please don't let that anger make you ignorant to what could be going on," Ledonir Kisaka suggested gently. The blonde princess continued to clench her fist and glare murderously at the hard wood in front of her as the words of her old friend and body guard seeped in.

With a growl, Cagalli threw her self back into her chair and folded her arms across her chest. "Fine. Let's hear it."

"As you wish," Kisaka bowed slightly. "Reports from the city state that there are small pockets of hostile behavior between Coordinators and Naturals cropping up all over the place. There have been no major incidences as of yet, but I believe it's best if we put an end to this now before it escalates any further."

"Which party is starting the conflict? Coordinators or Naturals?" Athrun Zala asked from his place sitting next to Cagalli. Since the end of the war Athrun had spent his time helping to rebuild Orb and repair relations between Naturals and Coordinators. The Naturals seemed to look towards Orb and its leaders as an example for peace, and both they and Coordinators seemed to agree that if peace was ever going to truly work, it would be because of Orb. As a result, most information was brought to them as a bit of a go between the two.

"All reports seem to state that it's mostly Naturals discriminating against Coordinators," Kisaka answered. "There are one or two cases of Coordinators retaliating, but other than that they have not been the cause of any hostile actions."

"Why do the Naturals keep doing this to themselves?" Cagalli asked no one in particular, running her fingers through her hair and in doing so messing it up. "Why can't they just accept that Coordinators are a part of life and that we should all just get along? Why do we keep trying to eradicate ourselves?"

"These anti Coordinator factions aren't trying to start another war with the idea of killing off every last Coordinator. They claim that they're happy enough to let them live, just not along side them," Kisaka said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cagalli asked, her hands still in her hair and her elbows on the table. The blonde Natural had become somewhat more lady like since she had first run off and joined Desert Dawn, but when faced with something that frustrated her, liked with these anti Coordinator factions, she's quickly slip back into her old ways.

"They don't want another war, but they don't want to share this world with the Coordinators," Kisaka explained. "They believe that the Naturals and the Coordinators should be separated from each other and keep to their own kind. They believe that under no circumstance should they be required to share anything with someone who isn't like them."

"This sounds very much like the old racial discrimination they used to have between blacks and whites," Athrun noted. "What's next? They'll be asking for us to install two sets of public toilets (3)? One for the Naturals and one for the Coordinators? Haven't these people ever heard of Martin Luther King?"

"Apparently not. They've even gone as far as attacking a young Natural boy who is engaged to be married to a Coordinator. They don't seem to approve of that kind of relationship."

"That's absurd!" Cagalli snapped, slamming her fist down again and leaping to her feet. "How do they expect to obtain peace if they're still trying to keep their distance from each other? And attack their own kind because of who they happen to be in love with? That's ridiculous!"

"Miss Cagalli, I know this matter may upset you on a personal level – "

"Damn straight it does!"

" – but sitting here asking how they could do something like this wont help," Kisaka finished. "We need to stop this spot fire here now before it turns into an inferno."

With a deep sigh, Cagalli slowly lowered herself into her seat. She just couldn't believe the ignorance of people. Were they going to attack her next because she was seeing a Coordinator? But Kisaka was right. Sitting here asking each other why they would do this wasn't the answer. They had to stop it here before it spread any further. "You're right, Kisaka. Please forgive me for being so childish."

"I'd tend to think of it as passionate as oppose to childish," Kisaka told her warmly.

"Thank you," Cagalli blushed slightly, but returned to her serious composer as she turned to address the representative for the PLANTS. "Are there any cases of this kind of thing happening in the space colonies?"

"No, you highness," the representative answered. "The PLANTS are composed of virtually all Coordinators so there is no reason for such tensions, and I'm sure you'll find in nations that are purely Naturals. Orb, on the other hand, is a mixed population so it seems as though this would be to only place where such hostilities would take place, but it is also the ideal place to put an end to them and set and example for the rest of humanity. The Coordinators of the PLANTS are just as dedicated to this peace as the rest of the world."

"I'm sure they are," Cagalli said, but she then went on to question the blonde ZAFT solider sitting along side the Coordinator representative. "Elsman, what do you believe are the views of the ZAFT soldiers on this matter."

"Well, after ZAFT declared peace with the Earth Forces, there was a large amount of grumbling from a few of the soldiers," Dearka answered casually. No matter how hard he tried, he could never bring himself to be completely formal when addressing Cagalli. It must be because they were friends outside of politics.

"How many would you say?" Cagalli asked.

"My guess would be a third or so," Dearka shrugged. "You know how soldiers are; take away they're favorite war toys and they whimper like a bunch of children. But I don't think they'd start anything like this. I mean, dividing the whole universe like that is ridiculous."

"I agree," Cagalli nodded before returning tot address Kisaka. "If these attacks aren't just happening at random like you say, then they must have some kind of an organization and therefore a leader. Do we have anyone that might fit that description?"

"Not currently, you highness, but the name Julian Tien keeps coming up so we'll be looking into that immediately," Kisaka assured her.

"And until we have more information regarding this matter there really isn't anything else we can do besides increasing security and police force into the city to try and stop these incidences should they occur," Cagalli mused. "Kisaka, please give the orders to have that done, but for now I believe this meeting is dismissed."

Dearka didn't leave immediately after his dismissal and waited around patently for Cagalli to finish speaking with Kisaka. He was shortly joined by Athrun who was also waiting for the blonde princess.

"We go through the whole mess of the Bloody Valentine War and even in peace time it's not over," Athrun sighed sadly. The dark hair Coordinator had been so much more committed to the cause of peace that Dearka was, so he felt the pain of seeing it failing more keenly that the blonde. "Sometimes I think if we're just fighting for an impossible dream that's never going to become a reality."

"Well, the second you stop fighting is the second it never will become a reality," Dearka pointed out. "These things take time, Zala. You can't expect to have everyone agree to your way of thinking over night. It's going to take a few years before the memories to the war start to fade a people can finally live without to desire to blow each other up. We may live to see that day or we may not, but it's worth fighting for."

"You know, for an idiot, you really are quiet smart," Athrun noted.

"I hide it well."

"I've noticed," Athrun grinned, but that smile faded slightly when he returned his gaze to Cagalli who was still discussing security matters with Kisaka. Dearka followed his ex commanders eye line and instantly knew what he was thinking.

"She'll be fine," Dearka assured. "We'll get these trouble makers before it get out of hand."

"But what if she gets hurt because of her relationship with me? I don't think I could live with myself if that happened," Athrun admitted.

"She's got you and Kisaka watching her every step and who knows how many secret service guys in suits and dark sunglasses dogging her every where that she goes. I'd like to see any mob can get through all that, be it anti Coordinator or anti Natural. Besides, Cagalli's a big girl. She can defend herself," Dearka reminded his friend. "If I was an anti anything member, I'd be more sacred of facing her than all the men in dark sunglasses."

"Are you really scared of me?" Cagalli asked, joining the two boys and catching the last part of what Dearka said.

"Sure, why not?" Dearka shrugged. "You've got to pilots of the Freedom and the Justice running scared from you, and whatever scares those guys must be really terrifying."

"Can't you be serious for one second?" Cagalli asked, punching the other blonde in the shoulder. Miriallia and Cagalli had spent a lot of time together since the end of the war, so it was only natural that she'd get to know Dearka too.

"I try not too," Dearka grinned impishly at her.

"When do you go back to the PLANTS?"

"Are you that sick of me already?"

"Yes."

"Harsh," Dearka pouted for a second before answering her question. "I've got like four more days here and then I go back to grace _Commander_ Joule with my sparkling presence."

"Don't you mean annoy?" Athrun corrected, remembering all the times when the Buster pilot would irritate the Duel pilot to breaking point. If they weren't such good friends, Athrun believed that Yzak would have accidentally on purpose shot down Dearka's suit long ago.

"He misses me when I'm gone, I know it," Dearka grinned before looking at Cagalli. "Milly told me to tell you that she accepts you're invitation for dinner tomorrow night. She didn't ask me if I wanted to go, but she insists that we are both thrilled about the idea of spending a night in your dazzling company."

"I'm not sure wither that was an insult or not, but I'm glad you're both coming," Cagalli smiled. "After spending all my days trying to sort out all the problems the universe is facing, it'll be nice to sit back and doing something normal for once. Don't ask me why, but when something goes wrong they always seem to look to me, Athrun, Kira and Lacus to make it right."

"Comes with being a hero of a war I guess," Dearka shrugged. "Well, I better get going. Can't keep Milly waiting, now can I?"

"No you can't because she might start thinking that it's my fault you're being held back so late," Cagalli said as the ZAFT solider headed off. "And keep an eye on Mir! We don't want anything to happen to her with all these anti Coordinator attacks going on!"

"Don't worry! I'm on it! See ya!" Dearka waved, heading for the front door. Outside, storm clouds were beginning to gather.

* * *

_Oooh, foreboding._

_(1) I used to do photography in high school so I know that after a double period of it the fumes used to get to your head _

_(2) Man Ray did a lot of photos of dirty, anorexic looking teenagers at night. Apparently he was trying to catch the vulnerability of youth_

_(3) Random Fact: If you go to the Pentagon in America, you'll discover that there a twice as many bathrooms because it was built at a time when black people and white people had their own separate toilets _

_TBC._


	3. Chapter 3

**

* * *

**

Miriallia trudged slowly through the city on the way home from school. The storm clouds that had gathered the night before still hadn't broken and they filled the air with a slight chill which was a vast change from how warm it had been a few days before. And it did little to lighten the mood that had hung over Miriallia since her run in with Nate the day before.

_Don't you remember that it was a Coordinator that killed Tolle?_

No matter how desperately she wanted to forget what Nate had said to her, his words kept replaying over and over again in her mind and as much as she hated it, she knew that they were starting to get to her.

_How could you do that to Tolle? How could you just forget about him like that?_

She had never forgotten Tolle. Never! She was still woken up at night by the nightmares of the words 'Signal Lost' appearing on her screen. But just because she had moved on a decided to live instead of wasting her days away grieving didn't mean she had forgotten him. Tolle was gone and just wishing that he was still alive wasn't going to change anything. But killing the ones responsible for his death wasn't the answer either. The only way to truly honor Tolle was to live and aim for a better world where such needless deaths didn't occur.

_You did forget him t__he second you befriended those Coordinators! _

While she had never exactly forgiven Athrun for killing Tolle, she knew she shouldn't hate him for what he had done in the past. It didn't change anything. How many people hated Kira for shooting down and killing their sons? And how many people would hate Miriallia herself after all the suits she had shot down with the Archangel? She had no right to hold it against Athrun when her hands were just as blood stained. No one in the entire universe had the right to hold anything against anyone else. The Bloody Valentine War was a result of the actions both sides. It was the result of humanity. There was no one to blame but themselves.

_You__ did forget him the second you befriended those Coordinators! From the very first time you kissed that Dearka! How could you do it? You've replaced Tolle with a murderer!_

There wasn't much Miriallia could slip passed Dearka, and he had known something was bothering her from the second he had walked in the door after returning from the meeting he had with Cagalli and the others the day before. He had tried desperately to try and get her to open up about what was wrong, but she had kept her mouth shut. It would just upset him. He had gone through enough with Yzak when they had first started dating. The silver hair Coordinator had originally believed that Miriallia was leading his best friend astray and had made his opinion known. But once Yzak had seen how real the feelings the couple had for each other were and how happy Miriallia made Dearka, the Duel pilot had no choice but to agree that there was no denying the couple of each other and in time he too had come to adore the Natural that had stolen his best friends heart.

But there was no way she'd be able to change the way Nate thought and frankly she didn't care if she never saw him again for the rest of her life. What he had said was just unforgivable.

_How could you even consider being with a monster like that? Have you no self respect? I thought I knew you, Miriallia! I thought that you were a respectable girl but after you've been with that . . . that . . . __**freak**__ I don't think I want to know you anymore. How could you betray Tolle like this?_

Miriallia wrapped her arms about her in an effort to ward of the chill of the air and to protect herself against the words that kept repeating over and over again in her head. She didn't care that Dearka was a Coordinator and the she was a Natural. It was the way he made her feel that was important and not what he had the ability to do and what was done in order for him to achieve said abilities.

It wasn't fair! Why couldn't the world just leave them alone? They had gone through so much suffering throughout the war and had lost so many dear to them. For Miriallia it had been Tolle, Fllay, Lt. Bageral, Mu La Fluga and for a time Kira. But Dearka had lost just as many. He had lost Rusty, Nicol, Miguel and countless other soldiers that he had known and fought alongside. And then he was forced to fight against his best friend who viewed him as a traitor. But in their pain they had managed to find one another and offered that comfort that they so desperately needed. And now that there was finally peace, it only seemed fair that they should be allowed to do as their hearts told them and be together.

She was starting to think that living in peace was much harder than living in war. On the Archangel, they had spent their time running from battle to battle, struggling to try and make some kind of difference. It was like they existed in their own little private world aboard the Archangel where they could get to know one another without the pressures of society. Where else could she be given to chance to befriend and eventually fall for someone who had been fighting against her not long before that?

"Who would have thought that I'd wish we'd go back to the days of the war," Miriallia muttered to herself, kicking an empty can of soda pop that was on the ground in front of her. In the grey clouds above, a deep growl of thunder traveled across the sky.

"Maybe you just want to see the end of all those Coordinators," a voice next to her said, and before she knew it a long, strong arm wrapped around her shoulders and directed her away from the main street she was walking along and down a side ally before she could stop it.

"What? What are you doing? Get off me!" the girl snapped, trying to shake the man off her. She tried as hard as possible to keep up a brave front, but her pulse started to quicken in fear when she noticed that the man had lead her directly into a group of other men.

"Hello my dear," the tallest of the group smiled at her, standing shivers down her spin. The man stood directly in front of her and held himself in the manner of a man in control, and the rest of the men around him seemed to respect that authority. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"What are you doing with me? Let me go!" Miriallia demanded, trying to work out whither she had seen this man before. He obviously seemed to think she had, but he didn't stand out in her memories. He was a rather plain looking man with dark hair and eyes and every inch of his skin was covered with the exception of his face and hands. His fingertips were yellow from cigarettes and the rest of his hands were covered in dark scars.

"We just want to talk, my dear," the man told her pleasantly, though the sneers on the other men's faces did little to lessen Miriallia's panic. "Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Julian Tein and these are a few of my friends I thought might be interested in meeting you."

"I'm charmed I'm sure but unfortunately I have another engagement tonight so I can't stand around making acquaintances," Miriallia snarled, her voice filled with strength she wasn't sure she had at that particular time.

"Of course there's no need to introduce your self, my dear. We already know all about you, Miriallia Haww," Julian continued on, ignoring her words. "It's hard to believe that one so young was fighting aboard the Archangel during that final battle. I envy you. I would have liked nothing more than to have been out there fighting for peace in the only way possible, but I unfortunately was forced to recuperate from another battle so couldn't take part."

Miriallia kept her face devoid of emotion as Julian hunched slightly in order to bang one of his knuckles against his left leg. A hollow, clunking noise reached Miriallia's ears, informing her that there was no actual leg there at all, or at least not a real one.

"If you're trying to scare me it's not going to work," Miriallia lied. "So why don't you do the right thing and just let me go."

"Ah yes, let you go running back to that little blonde Coordinator of yours," Julian hissed and the rest of his men jeered quietly at his words. "I can't seem to understand what a pretty Natural like yourself would see in a space monster like him? What is the appeal of making a freak of nature like that into your lover? The whole concept just seems unnatural to me."

Miriallia flush slightly, but she was not going to let this man think he as having an effect on her. "If you believe we should continue the war that killed – "

"Oh I'm not suggesting we go back to fighting, my dear. Not in the slightest. I have seen war from the battle field just like you and I know that nothing will be gained by trying to destroy one another. However I do not believe Cagalli Yula Athha and Lacus Clyne's notion that true peace is obtained by accepting one another, because as long as we both exist together Coordinators and Naturals will forever be at war."

"So what are you? The peace committee?"

"Of sorts," Julian sneered. "You see, while I do not wish for another war, I cannot accept this notion to just forget about the ones we've already had. Peace cannot be obtained by ignoring the past and pretending that everything's alright. No, the only way we will ever have peace is if the Naturals remain on Earth and all the Coordinators are sent into the emptiness of space where they belong."

"You mean exile them?" Miriallia growled. That wasn't the answer. It would only lead to more fighting.

"I am merely removing any chance of conflict," Julian explained. "The only way the human race is going to survive is if we stick to our own kind. The Naturals homeland is the Earth as the Coordinators homeland is the PLANTs. Let them stay there so we can continue our natural way for life without them. Our purpose is clear and we won't stop until all Coordinators are in space where they belong. It's better for everything that way. Except that there are people like you who conduct the sick act of cross breeding Naturals and Coordinators who endanger the survival of humanity."

"You're the one endangering humanity by proposing we exclude ourselves from advances that might aid us into the future," Miriallia told him, her face going red, but whither it was from anger or embarrassment from Julian's description of hers and Dearka's relationship she couldn't tell.

"Well, if you want to even see that future I suggest you stop seeing that Coordinator or we'll have to take steps and I don't think you want us to do that," Julian informed her coldly.

"I'm not going to let myself get intimidated by you," Miriallia told him firmly. She had fought too long and too hard to let herself get bullied around like this. The second she gave into him was the second that everything she had suffered through would go to waste.

"Then it's clear you're just not seeing reason," Julian sighed. "Alright boys, educate her."

"Can we have a little fun with her?" one of the men asked, looking the young woman up and down. "She is rather pretty after all."

"No, she's had a Coordinator in her bed. She's been tainted," Julian reminded them, turning and walking away with a few of his men. A majority of them, however, remained behind, surrounding Miriallia like a bunch of predators.

"I sure hate to do this to a pretty girl, but if it helps send those damn Coordinators back to space . . . " one of the men shrugged, before sharply backhanding Miriallia across the face. Miriallia had never actually been hit before, and it caused her whole body to reel. Breaking into a blind panic, she tried to make a run, but all she did was run into the arms of two of the men planning to attack her.

"No, no, no, darling. We ain't done with you yet?" one of the man jeered, throwing her roughly against the wall of the ally way. The air was knocked out of Miriallia's lungs, and she crumpled helplessly to the ground. Slowly he men moved in on her.

"Trust me, this is for your own good," one of the men said, raising his fist to strike her again. But before he could touch her, the heel of someone's foot connected with the side of his head, sending the man flying to the ground in an unconscious state. The gang jumped, and turned to stare at the girls rescuer.

"If you think I'm going to let this injustice go on you've got another thing coming!" Athrun growled, dropping down low into a fighting stance. The Justice pilot had gone into the city to run some errands for Cagalli and was just walking to his car to get back to her palace when he had heard some kind of commotion going on in an ally way he passed by. He had jumped in to defend the helpless girl without hesitation, but his blood froze when he saw who the girl was. "Miriallia?"

"It's just one guy. We can take him," one of the men spat, getting ready to take on the Coordinator. But there were a few in the gang who knew who this rescuer was and were more hesitant.

"That's just not any guy. That's Athrun Zala; a Coordinator and Cagalli Yula Athha boyfriend," one of them hissed. Most of them were already edging back way from the Coordinator in fear of his reputation on the battle field and his strong political connection.

Furious beyond reason, Athrun dug into the fold of his clothes and pulled out the hand gun he always carried. While he had never had any reason to use it since the war ended, all habits die hard and it can never hurt to be too cautious. Half the men fled at that point, taking with them the man that Athrun had kicked unconscious. Not even waiting to give them a chance to surrender, Athrun took aim and the rest of the gang bolted. Athrun had almost pulled the trigger when he suddenly remembered where he was and hesitated. Cagalli did not take murder in her nation too kindly, so he quickly changed his target and pulled back on the trigger.

_BANG!!_

"Ah!" one of the men screamed as the bullet ripped through his knee. The wound was no fatal, but it would hurt like hell. Without hesitating, Athrun let a few more shots out, hitting a few more of the men in the knees as they fled. The gang of men vanished round the corner, and Athrun was about to give chase when a weak, pleading whisper reached his ears.

"A-Athrun?" Miriallia whimpered from her place crumpled on the ground. In an instant, the Coordinator forgot all about the men and turned his attention purely on the girl he viewed as a friend. There had always been a certain level of hesitation between the two since it had been Athrun who was responsible for Tolle's death, but both knew they were very dear to Cagalli and had made an effort for her. Over time, the awkwardness that had always been between them had faded and now both called each other friend without hesitation.

"Miriallia," Athrun gasped, cupping the face of the beaten girl just as the clouds above him broke and the rain started to fall. There was a red mark on her cheek where the man had hit her and her turquoise eyes were swelling with tears. "It's alright. They're gone."

"They d-did it b-b-because Dearka was a Coordinator," Miriallia sobbed, her eyes spilling over. Athrun pulled her into a comforting hug and let the girl cry into his shoulder.

"Shh. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here now," Athrun cooed, rubbing her back in small circles as the rain seeped into their clothes. "I'm here. It's okay. It's alright. They're gone."

"They'll be b-back," Miriallia cried. "They said they won't stop till . . ." sniff, "till all the Coordinators are in space.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll stop them," Athrun promised her. He wanted nothing more than to hunt down those men that caused so many people pain. People who were just trying to live in peace. Today it was Miriallia, tomorrow it could be Cagalli. Athrun could not let that happen. But it was foolish for one man to go after a whole gang on his own, and Miriallia needed his help now. "Come on. Let's get you some place dry."

The girl nodded, her face still buried. With little effort at all, Athrun scooped Miriallia into his arms before standing and heading for his car. The Natural wrapped her arms around his neck to try and make his job of transporting her a little easier though there was no need for it. Athrun could have carried her for miles without getting tired. Athrun had just made it to his car and was struggling between opening the door and juggling Miriallia when he heard her soft voice whisper in her ear.

"Please, don't tell Dearka . . . Please."

* * *

"She's asleep," Kisaka informed Athrun and Cagalli as he stepped out of the room that had been put aside for Miriallia at the palace. "She's fine apart from a little trauma so we gave her something to help her get some rest."

"How could this happen?" Cagalli demanded. "How could this happen in Orb of all places?"

"Well, we did know about these attacks on Coordinators and Coordinator sympathizers – which Miriallia would fit the description of – were happening, and Miriallia would be a likely target considering her relationship with Dearka. Not to mention she's just a civilian so she'd be easy to get alone," Kisaka sighed. "We should have known something like this could happen."

"We can't do anything about it now," Athrun quickly cut off Cagalli's sharp response to such a statement. "What's done is done. The only thing we can do now is try and stop these group before anyone else gets hurt. Has there been any information on this Julian Tein?"

"A few files but we're trying to find a photo of the man so we can at least know who we're up against."

"Keep working on it," Cagalli order crisply. Mobs trying to disrupt the peace she had worked so hard to obtain was bad enough, but when they attacked her best friend, it got personal.

"As you command," Kisaka bowed. "We'll call Miriallia's parents and inform them of the situation. Do you want us to call Dearka Elsman as well?"

"No, I better do that," Athrun said. "We were expecting him and Miriallia here tonight for dinner and the last thing we need is a hysterical Dearka rushing through the city."

Athrun moved off to one side as Cagalli gave orders to Kisaka about sending the appropriate authorities out to the ally where Miriallia had been attacked in order to see if they could find any evidence that could help them track the men. After hesitating for a second, Athrun scrolled through his phonebook until he found Dearka's number and raised the mobile phone to his ear. Dearka was not going to take this well, he knew it. The dial tone sounded for a second till the Buster pilot's cheery voice answered the other end.

"Hey Zala!" Dearka greeted, knowing who it was with the help of caller ID. Athrun could hear the sound of rain and the bustle of the city at peck hour, an indication that the ZAFT solider was still in the city. "I know, I know. I'm running a bit late. Got held up talking with the Orb technicians but I'll be over at your place in no time."

"Dearka," Athrun tried to get the blonde attention, but Dearka was too involved in his own thoughts to listen to his former commander.

"Well, actually, strictly speaking it's Cagalli's place but you get my drift. It's pretty much your home away from home, after all."

"Dearka."

"But anyway, I'll be right over. I just gotta duck into Miriallia's place and get into some dry clothes and then Mir and I will be right over."

"Miriallia's already here," Athrun told Dearka, knowing that any mention of the Naturals name would instantly spark the blonde Coordinators attention.

"She is? Huh, I thought we were going to go together. She made such a big deal about not being late tonight and then she goes off without me. I'm not running that late. Well, I _am_ but I've been later before."

"Can you just get here as fast as you can?" Athrun asked. He didn't want to tell Dearka of what happened over the phone so he was trying to keep it as calm and casually as possible, but Dearka knew Athrun and could hear in his voice that he was keeping secrets.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Would you just get here?"

"Something's happened. I know it," Dearka stated sternly. He might act like the fool, but he was very sharp and could tell that Athrun wasn't being completely honest with him. "Where's Miriallia? Put her on. I want to talk to her."

"She can't come to the phone right now so – "

"God dammit Zala! It's a bloody mobile phone! Take it to her!" Dearka raged loudly, causing Athrun to jerk to phone away from his ear from the sudden rise in volume. Cagalli noticed this, and her eyes narrowed. So much for trying not to get Dearka hysterical.

"Just get here, Elsman!" Athrun hissed through clenched teeth, and he heard Dearka mutter a very colourful phrase before hanging up without a goodbye. Athrun sighed deeply as he hung up his end of the call, staring down at the phone in his hand. That had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped.

"I take it he knows something's up, huh?" a soft voice said directly behind him, making the Coordinator jump slightly. He hadn't even heard Cagalli creep up behind him, a clear indication of how distracted he was.

"I sometimes forget how observant and intelligent Dearka can be," Athrun sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I guess I always think he's like Yzak; hot-blooded and reckless, when he's actually nothing like that."

"He hides it well behind a façade of immaturity," Cagalli half smiled, wrapping her arms around her lover from behind, resting her cheek against his back. "What are we going to do about these attacks? We can't let them continue, but I can imagine Dearka's going to want revenge which we can't do either."

"We'll come up with something," Athrun assured her, stroking her arms as she held him, though at the moment no ideas came to mind. But he knew that a revenge party lead by a blood thirsty Dearka was not a possibility. They couldn't risk restarting the war for something as pointless as revenge. That would just start the whole viscous cycle all over again.

"I hope so," Cagalli whispered, burying her face into Athrun's back, trying to fight back the tears that were swelling in her eyes. She managed to stop them from falling, but she couldn't cease the misery that came with knowing that her friend was currently in a drug induced sleep after being attacked in a nation that Cagalli was supposed to control.

Dearka arrived sometime after. His clothes were absolutely soaked as a result of being caught in the storm that was happening outside and his golden hair sticking to his face was a mess, but the normally vain Coordinator took no notice. His amethyst eyes were slightly panicked, but he moved forward into the palace with a determined stride, not caring that he was flooding the floor in the process.

"Where's Miriallia?" he demanded before either of his friends had a chance to speak. He had managed to set a new world record from getting from the city to the palace, but he still couldn't wait a second long. He needed to see his girl and make sure she was alright.

"In her room. This way," Cagalli answered, moving off immediately as she sensed Dearka's anxiety. The blonde Coordinator was normally very cool and collected in serious situations, but that clearly didn't extend to whenever his Miriallia was in danger. Cagalli even ignored the fact that she was getting bossed around in her own house, knowing that she would be carrying on the same way if something was to happen to Athrun.

Miriallia's room was dark and the girl was sleeping peacefully when they arrived. Dearka moved instantly by her side, kneeling beside her bed as he gently stroked her cheek, his amethyst scanning over her sleeping form for any kind of injuries. He couldn't see anything, though one of her cheeks seemed a little swollen and bruised, but that could just be the trick of the light. But Dearka felt his guts sink as she didn't respond in her sleep to his touch like she normally did. Something was definitely wrong.

"What happened to her?" Dearka asked softly, his voice wavering slightly as his eyes never left the still face of his beloved.

"She was heading home when she was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator," Athrun answered evenly. Dearka turned his face to stare at his fellow Coordinator, his amethyst eyes wide with horror. "They struck her once across the face and threw her against a wall before I was able to stop them. We gave her something to help her sleep which is why she isn't waking up. She'll be fine. She's just a little scared."

"What happened to the men?" Dearka asked, and Athrun was surprised to hear that his voice lacked the level of anger and rage that he had been expecting.

"They got away for now, but we've already sent men into the city to see if they can trail them. We're going to put an end to these anti Coordinator attacks once and for all," Athrun promised.

Dearka nodded numbly, his eyes once again on Miriallia's face. Cagalli mentioned something to him about finding him some dry clothes, but it only just registered on the edge of his awareness. He sensed that both Cagalli and Athrun had left to give him some privacy with Miriallia, but he didn't turn to look behind him and check. He just couldn't look away from the sleeping girl in front of him. His entire body was shivering violently from his wet clothes, but he paid no attention to it. Slowly, Dearka reached over and cupped the Naturals face in one of his trembling hands. She felt so warm against his cold skin.

Dearka Elsman had never been one to ever really let his feelings show due to the unspoken belief that had been drilled into him during his basic training that being strong meant never losing your self control. Like anyone, he had experience joy, grief, anger and fear, but he made an effort to never let them overwhelm him and as a result had made him appeal rather cold. But with Miriallia, it was different. From the first time they had properly interacted in the Archangel infirmary she had managed to get past his defences and make him feel his emotions more keenly that with anyone else. He had felt extremely guilty after those things he had said about Tolle without him knowing he was actually speaking the truth. Her rage, pain, grief and her strange compassion from him that drove her to stop Fllay from shooting him had gotten under his skin and had established an emotional connection before he even knew it.

And now, seeing her like this was enough to make Dearka's eyes fill as Athrun's words repeated around his mind on an endless loop, drowning out the rage he knew he should be feeling and replacing it with guilt.

_She was heading home when she was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . . She was heading home when she was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . . who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . . who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . . _

"Oh god, Mir. I'm so sorry," Dearka sobbed, burying his face into the sheets. His knees were starting to ache after supporting his weight for so long, but he didn't move. He stayed kneeling by her side, his fingers intertwined with hers. Water seeped from his eyes into the sheet which were already soaked from his wet hair, but he didn't break down into shuttering sobs like he needed too. He just let the tears fall from his eyes as he held onto Miriallia's hand and all the while, one thought kept running through his mind; it was all his fault.

_She was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . . _Those men had targeted her because of her relationship with him _. . . She was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . ._ They had attacked her because he was a Coordinator _. . . She was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . ._ He had put her in danger just of because of what he was. _. . . She was set upon by a group of men who didn't approve of the fact that a Natural like her was seeing a Coordinator . . ._ It was all his fault.

"Mir . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . . I'm sorry for everything."

Athrun wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he had returned to Miriallia's room with a towel to try and get Dearka dry, but whatever it was it wasn't what he found when he opened the door. In the years that he had known him, Athrun had never seen the blonde Coordinator lose control of his emotions. Although cocky and arrogant, Dearka Elsman had always managed to maintain a level head no matter what the situation, making him the perfect counterpart to Yzak and his fiery temper. But the Coordinator kneeling beside the bed was not the Dearka Athrun knew. His defences were down and he was completely overcome with anguish that Athrun could see just by looking at his back.

Wordlessly, Athrun moved over and wrapped the towel around Dearka's shoulders, rubbing them slightly to try and absorb some of the cold water. Dearka raised his head from the sheets, his face drenched with water that had seeped down from his blonde hair and his eyes. Athrun pretended not to notice as the other Coordinator wiped his face with the towel and silently took a seat in one of the arm chairs the room had to offer. Dearka stayed where he was.

"Thanks," Dearka sniffed, briefly rubbing his hair with the towel. He could no longer ignore the cold that was seeping into his bones, and the Coordinator finally shifted his stance to give his knees a break.

"Don't worry about it," Athrun answered, and then the room plunged back into silence. Dearka still remained on the floor, his troubled eyes still fixed on Miriallia. After a few moment of neither of them talking, Athrun decided he need to break the silence and stop the dark thoughts he knew must have been flying around his friends head. "We'll find the ones responsible for this, I promise you."

"I know who's responsible," Dearka whispered, his eyes lost in Miriallia's face.

"What?"

"I am," Dearka said in a wavering voice, turning to look at Athrun for the first time since he re-entered the room, and Athrun was shocked to see a vast level of guilt in those amethyst eyes. "They attacked her because of me. It's my fault."

"What? Dearka, no it isn't. You can't help it if there are ignorant pricks out there who know nothing but how to hate," Athrun told his friend, who had returned to staring numbly into the still face of his girlfriend. "You couldn't have known."

"It's my fault."

"No, Dearka, it isn't."

"Yes it is!" the blonde snapped, not looking at the other Coordinator. "They attacked her because I'm a Coordinator! She got hurt because of what I am!"

"Dearka!"

"What? It's true!" Dearka snarled, before dropping his anger and slipping back into his depressive state. "She would have been better off if she had never met me."

"If she had never met you, do you think she would have gotten past her grief after I killed Tolle? Of course not. Sia tried his hardest and yet he couldn't comfort her. But you caused her to snap out of her grief – "

"Yeah, by insulting her," Dearka interrupted glumly, remembering the pain in those turquoise blue eyes that he would come to adore. His words had cause that pain, and while there was now way he could have know that he was speaking the truth, even to this day he couldn't suppress the guilt for causing that amount of pain to the girl. He had caused her to snap and in turn had almost turned her into a murderer. "All I seem to do is cause her pain."

"God dammit Dearka! Don't be absurd!" Athrun snarled, getting to his feet and storming over to where the blonde was sitting on the ground. Athrun roughly pulled Dearka around so he was forced to look at him. "I've seen the two of you together and the last thing you do is cause her pain. She loves you and you love her, Dearka! You don't hurt her, you do the opposite! Why can't you see that?"

"Because I know that she's lying here because of me!" Dearka snapped, scrambling to his feet to glare Athrun directly in the face. His amethyst eyes were a whirlpool of pain, anger and guilt and he was visibly trembling, but whither that was from his damp clothes or his emotions, Athrun couldn't tell. Finally Dearka dropped his gaze to the ground, refusing to look at Athrun or the sleeping Miriallia. "I'm sorry, I just can't be here right now. I just gotta get out."

"You sure?" Athrun questioned, startled by the distress in Dearka's voice.

"I'm sure. I just can't stand to see her like this."

"Fair enough. Cagalli will watch her for us," Athrun comforted, wrapping his arms about the blonde shoulders and leading him out of the room. Dearka refused to look up as they left the beaten girl to her rest. "She'll be okay."

* * *

_TBC_


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

**Chapter Four **

"I know you wanted to get some air, but I really don't think this is the right place for you to brood," Athrun noted, glancing around the closest bar they had to the palace. It was filled with cigarette smoke and was crowded with people. Dearka had ordered a shot the second they had arrived but hadn't so much as touched it yet. He simply just stared at it, his chin was resting in his arms and a blank expression on his face. Athrun had tried for the last hour to try and get Dearka back to the palace, but the blonde was being impossibly stubborn and uncharacteristically melancholy. "Don't you want to see how Milly's going?"

"She'll be asleep till morning, remember?" Dearka grumbled, still eyeing his drink blankly. H still blamed himself for what happened to Miriallia and the thought of sitting by her bed till she awoke was almost unbearable. He had no right to be near her when it was because of his closeness they had together that caused her to end up like this.

"Dearka, this is ridiculous. Do you know what Miriallia's going to do to you when she finds out how you've been acting this whole time? She's been spending a lot of time with Cagalli and I'm sure that a few of her tendencies have worn off on her. Milly's a sweet girl but she won't hesitate to kick your ass when she finds out about this," Athrun pointed out, before making an attempt to lighten the mood. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that we hide all the knives."

Dearka gave a half smile but then returned to the staring contest he was having with the shot, but Athrun's words got him thinking. "She is going to be pretty mad, huh?"

Athrun smiled with relief as Dearka was finally stating to think straight. "That's why we should get back before she wakes up and pretend this never happened."

"Kay," Dearka mumbles, not getting up.

"But before we go, I've really got to use the bathroom. You wait here, okay? Don't go anywhere," Athrun ordered as he got to his feet. Dearka continued to stare at his drink.

"You drove me here," Dearka said as Athrun walked off. Alone with his thoughts, the blonde was ponder the possibility whither or not his drink was smiling at him when another boy took a seat not far from him.

"It's really raining out there," the boy commented, trying to start up some small talk with the Coordinator, who wasn't too interested in conversation at that moment.

"Hmm."

"Not the kind of thing you want to get caught it."

"Hmm."

"It's getting colder too, huh?"

"Hmm."

The boy breathed in through his teeth and ran had hand through his wavy hair in an almost nervous manner. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Doubt it."

"Your name wouldn't be Dearka, now is it?" the boy asked, making the blonde look up from is drink. The boy looked to be about Dearka's age, and he had brown hair and green eyes. For some reason he looked strangely familiar but he couldn't remember ever meeting the boy before.

"Yeah," Dearka answered cautiously.

"I knew I knew you from somewhere," the boy grinned pleasantly. "I'm a friend of Miriallia. She's told me a lot about you. My name's Nate."

"Yeah, hi. Um, we haven't met, have we?"

"No. I just recognized you from her photos. She's got some great ones of you."

"Oh, so you're in her photography course?"

"No, I've just seen her work. I'm actually Tolle's cousin so we go way back," Nate answered and things suddenly clicked into place for Dearka. While he had never actually met Tolle, he had seen enough photos of him to know that his cousin looked almost exactly like him. There were a few differences, for sure, but there was definitely a family resemblance between the two. "How is she? I haven't seen Milly in a while."

"She's alright," Dearka lied, his guts sinking at his works. She wasn't alright, but he really didn't want to go into it with some guy he had never even met. It didn't help that this guy also happened to be related to Tolle, someone Dearka always half felt like he was living in the shadow of in regards to Miriallia. He knew Milly loved him, but every description he got of her former boyfriend made him seem inferior. Everyone used to tell him how sweet, loyal and selfless Tolle was, things Dearka wasn't exactly up to scratch on.

"Well that's good," Nate smiled. "I've been hearing a lot about some attacks that were made on Naturals due to their connection with Coordinators, and I know that she fought alongside a few of them during the war. But I'm probably just worrying too much, right? I mean, she's in no real danger just because of who a few of her friends are, huh?"

"Yeah," Dearka answered awkwardly. This guy clearly didn't know that he was speaking with a Coordinator.

"I must be hard for her in this kind of situation. I mean, no matter how much you care for someone, you've ultimately got to think of your own safety. It's hardly what I call peace if you're constantly looking over your shoulder to make sure you don't get attacked just because of the people you hang out with. It's not much of a life, either," Nate mused out loud, and his words hit Dearka like a sledge hammer. "But Mir's a good girl. I know she'll take care of herself."

"Yeah," Dearka answered, trembling slightly as Nate's words sunk into him. He didn't notice someone approach him from behind, and jumped when he felt a strong hand clamp onto his shoulder.

"You ready to go?" Athrun asked, and Dearka nodded numbly. The blonde got to his feet and quickly downed the shot he had ordered over and hour ago almost as an after thought.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," Nate smiled at Dearka, and Athrun couldn't help but notice that there was an odd glint in the brunette's green eyes. "And say hi to Miriallia for me."

"Yeah, sure," Dearka answered, but it was clear that he was lost in his own thoughts. Athrun took firm hold of his friends arm and lead him out of the bar, glancing over his shoulder at the boy Dearka had been talking too as they left.

"Who was he?" Athrun asked.

"A friend of Mir's called Nate."

"He seems nice."

"Yeah," Dearka replied, breaking out of his thought. "Hey, I was thinking, maybe we should stop by Miriallia's house so we can grab some of hers and my stuff since we'll not doubt be staying at Cagalli's for a bit."

"That's sounds like a great idea," Athrun grinned, relieved that his friend was finally breaking out of his brooding thoughts and was starting to think in terms of what would be best for Miriallia. Still smiling, Athrun lead Dearka towards his car.

Back in the bar, Nate sat where he was and stared at his hands. He knew what he had done was the right thing, but he still felt dirty because of his actions. He knew that his words would have gotten to the Coordinator, but he couldn't have freaks like Dearka contaminating his planet. Monsters like that belonged in space. They had no right to even set foot on the Earth. They had abandoned her and her natural ways the second they had their genes tampered with. What he had done was for the good of the future.

"You did well," a deep voice beside him said and Nate turned to see a man sitting alongside him that hadn't been there before. "Soon that crime against nature will be back in space where he belongs."

"I know," Nate nodded, but he still felt sick from the part he had played in making that happen.

"You did the right thing by telling me where to find that Miriallia girl," the man told the boy next to him. "Unions like that shouldn't be allowed and we are the only ones that are able to stop it. It's for the best."

"But you still hurt her."

"It was to teach her a lesson. You did what you needed to do to preserve our future and to honour the memory of your cousin. By allowing her to remain with that Coordinator was an insult to what Tolle died for. It was a Coordinator that killed him and yet that foolish girl still takes another Coordinator to her bed. Has she no dignity? She's sleeping with the comrade of the Coordinator that murdered her boyfriend. Filthy girl. We cannot let that continue for her sake and for our own."

"I know."

"That's a good lad," the man said, getting to his feet. "I have to get going to over see a few things. Again, well done Nate. Your cousin would be proud of you."

"Thank you, Mr. Tein."

"You're welcome. Goodnight Nate."

"Goodnight sir."

* * *

A few hours before dawn, the palace of Cagalli Yula Athha stood dark and still as the world outside slept. So no one noticed when the ZAFT pilot snuck off the grounds into the rain and headed for the space port.

* * *

_TBC._


	5. Chapter 5

**

* * *

**

"Maybe he hasn't even left for space yet," Miriallia could faintly hear Athrun say. He was speaking in a much softer tone that Cagalli, so his voice wasn't travelling as well. "I'll call the space port and see if anyone's seen him."

"And what if the idiot is gone? Then what?" Cagalli raged and Miriallia tried to shake the sleep off her. Sitting up in bed, the Natural still felt rather groggy, but she swung her feet over the side of her bed and put her feet on the cold floor. The air was chilled from the rain outside, so Miriallia wrapped her arms round her as she made her way across the room to the door that Cagalli and Athrun were arguing on the other side of. She swayed dizzily as she walk, but she simply put one hand to her head to try and steady herself and continued her way slowly to her door. She needed to know what was going on.

Cagalli was lost in another fit of fury when Miriallia timidly stuck her head out of her room. Athrun was on his phone, a crumpled note in his hand and a worried expression on his face. He was too focused on his call and Cagalli was too busy muttered swear words under her breath to notice that they now had an audience.

"Wha . . . What's happening?" Miriallia asked sleepily, sharply jerking her friends out of their distractions and almost gawk at her. Miriallia squirmed slightly and smiled nervously at the couple before her. Cagalli was the first to break out of her shock and smiled softly at Miriallia, all traces of her previous anger gone.

"How are you feeling?" Cagalli inquired as Athrun returned to his phone call.

"I'm fine," Miriallia assured her. "I'm still a bit groggy in the head but other then that I'm okay."

"Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

Miriallia frowned at her friends question, and went back through her foggy mind to try and remember. And then slowly, Julian Tein, his men and their wicked cause resurfaced, and the very thought of them made Miriallia shiver. "Yes, I remember. A group of men cornered me and . . . If Athrun hadn't shown up I . . . I don't know what would have happened."

"Shh," Cagalli cooed, embracing her friend and rubbing her back. Miriallia tried her hardest not to cry, but a few tears managed to sneak past her defences. "It's alright now. We won't let these guys get away with it. I promise you."

"Thank you," Miriallia whispered, on her behalf and others. She knew that those men were going to go after others in the same position as her. There would be so many people, both naturals and Coordinators alike that would have to suffer on account of those men, and if they wanted to continue living in peace, they would have to remove such problems.

"Come on, you should get back to bed," Cagalli advised, leading the other girl back into her room. "Those sleeping pills we gave you a probably still making you drowsy, and after everything you've been through you really need to rest."

"Okay," Miriallia yawned, climbing back under her covers without argument. She was still feeling rather groggy, and maybe a bit of a sleep in would help her get past that stage. But as Cagalli was tucking her in, the photography student suddenly had a thought. "Is Dearka here?"

Cagalli looked over her shoulder to the doorway where Athrun stood and his miserable and slightly disappointed expression answered her unspoken question instantly. Dearka was no longer on Earth. But the blonde force a soft smile as she turned back to her sleepy friend. "We'll find him for you."

"Thank you," Miriallia yawned again, slipping deeper into her bed. Cagalli silently left the room to rejoin Athrun in their search for the missing blonde Coordinator. Miriallia wrapped her covers tightly around her as she snuggled down deeper into the warmth of her bed, but no matter how inviting sleep was, the Natural couldn't seem to nod off. Something kept plaguing her mind and driving off any rest, and after lying in for over ten minutes, she finally realised what was wrong.

Where was Dearka?

It just didn't make sense. A couple months ago when she had come down with a touch of the flu, Dearka had hovered over her and tended her to any, minute little thing she could have wanted. He had almost gone as far as to ignore a direct command for Yzak to return to space if Miriallia hadn't insisted that she could now take care of her self and promised to call him over single day. She knew that Dearka could go a little over the top when it came to looking after her, but he only did it because he cares. He wasn't completely over protective and controlling like Miriallia had seen some boys be, but he would stop at nothing to insure that his Miriallia was safe and well.

And yet, he wasn't here.

She remembered begging Athrun not to tell Dearka if what had happened in that ally way, knowing that her beloved would not take it very well, but she knew that Dearka must have noticed that she had never returned home from school and had slept through the dinner they had planned with Athrun and Cagalli. Miriallia hoped that Athrun had come up with some cover story about her maybe having a head ache or something like that, but even with something as simple as that she would have woken up to see Dearka watching over her.

Twisting over onto her side, Miriallia tried to shake off her lethargic state of mind in order to call out to someone to bring her impulsive boyfriend to her, but she stop when she noticed a note addressed to her on her bedside table. Timidly, the Natural reached out from under her warm covers to retrieve the note and unfolded it only to instantly recognize the handwriting.

_My dearest Miriallia, _

_By the time you're reading this, I'm mostly likely back in space. I know I'm no doubt pissing off a whole bunch of people by doing this, but I can't ignore the fact that it's because of your connection to me that you were attacked. If it hadn't been for me and what I am you would have never been hurt. And although it kills me to do this, I know that the best thing for me to do is to go back to space where I belong and leave you to your life. _

_Let's face it Milly; what we had was just a dream. While we're no longer killing one another, it's going to be a long time before Naturals and Coordinators can live along side one another and until then I wouldn't be able to live with myself if it was because of me you were discriminated against. You know I love ya babe, but it's because I love you that I have to leave you. Cagalli will be able to protect you and I know you'll be able to go out and make something fantastic of yourself. I'll return to ZAFT and do my best to try and put an end to all this madness. _

_I'm sorry for the way things turned out, but unfortunately that's just how the world is. This is the most difficult thing I've ever done, but there's no other way. I just can't let you get hurt on account of me. _

_Love always, Dearka_

Miriallia reread the note three times over and even then she didn't believe it. Trembling, Miriallia tried desperately to try and make sense of the note, but none came. She needed to know what had happened with Dearka while she had been sleeping, and she knew just who to ask.

"Athrun!"

* * *

Dearka floated glumly towards Commander Joule's office, not acknowledging anyone as he passed. He was back with ZAFT and dressed again in his green uniform amongst his comrades. Everything was just how it was when he left for Earth. Dearka Elsman, however, was not the same man he had been when he had left.

Dearka was a first rate solider, but one could deny the fact that he often behaved inappropriately for someone who was in the military. He was very casual with his uniform and his manner, often joking around in the most serious of circumstances. He'd show respect and disciple when it was required, but every other time was spent taking it easy which at times could be enough to send his superior officers into a fit because of the bad example he was setting for the rest of the crew. But since his unexpected return, Dearka had taken to avoiding company and sometimes skipping meals in order to keep his glum solitude, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"You asked to see me, sir?" Dearka saluted halfheartedly to Yzak upon entering the commander's office.

"Yes I did," Yzak frowned, not happy with his friends unenthusiastic greeting. Normally Dearka never took his best friends rank seriously. If another soldier was around, the blonde would show Yzak the respect he commanded, but whenever they were alone like now, he'd be full of sarcastic comments and mocking salutes. But since Dearka's early return be had gotten none of them, an as much as Dearka's normally sarcastic attitude irritated the silver haired commander, he found that this new mood of Dearka's was even more distracting. Mainly because Yzak knew that wasn't how Dearka Elsman behaved. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing sir, everything's fine," Dearka lied in an emotionless voice, slipping into the chair opposite Yzak's desk.

"You do know I don't believe that in the slightest."

"That's your decision, sir."

"Dammit Elsmen! Talk to me! And stop calling me sir!" Yzak seethed, not missing the irony that he was the one normally demanded the blonde to be serious and treat him with respect. "Why are you home early?"

"I told you, I was finished with what I needed to do on Earth and figured I'd be of more help here," Dearka shrugged. Yzak slammed his fists on the table that divided them and death glared his friend.

"Don't give me that crap! Normally you're pushing to have a few more days at Orb after you've finished your work! I've never once headed you even discuss the idea of you come back early, let alone doing it! Now, what is wrong?" Yzak demanded, but Dearka refused to answer him. He didn't even look up at his commander. Yzak sighed bitterly, knowing full well that there was only one person in the universe that could affect Dearka like this. "What happened with Miriallia?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Dearka answered quickly. Even just hearing her name was painful to him. He knew he had done the right thing, but it did little to lessen the hurt of abandoning the love of his life.

Yzak growled and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was ridiculous to think that Dearka Elsmen, former Red Solider of ZAFT and pilot of the Buster, one of the most powerful mobile suits in the universe, could be crippled because of a woman. A _Natural_ woman at that. "I take it you two had a falling out?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Dearka repeated firmly. Yzak was never one to want to talk about feelings, so why the hell was he starting now? It obscured everything Dearka view to be normal.

"That's a shame because that's exactly what we're going to do," Yzak said in a tone that left little room for argument. "I've got a whole company to command and the last thing I need is one of my men moping around because he and his girl had some lovers quarrel! Now out with it!"

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Dearka inquired, his amethyst eyes clearly stating that he wasn't going to tell his friend anything.

"Not at the moment," Yzak told him, folding his arms across his chest. The inevitable staring contest then followed as neither man was willing to back down. Ice blue eyes locked on amethyst ones, each burning into the other. Yzak's gaze may have been the more intense of the two, but Dearka was as patient as a rock, so he easily held the stare until Yzak cracked. Pounding his fist on the desk, Yzak got to his feet and screamed, "God dammit Dearka!"

"I think I better go see – " Dearka started, but there was no way Yzak was letting him out of that room till he knew exactly what had happened to make his best friend so depressed.

"You stay were you are!" Yzak ordered, ripping the phone off the hook and punching in a few numbered.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Zala. He's in Orb so he might have an idea of why you're acting like this."

Dearka reached across the desk and disconnected the line with his fingers. "Put the phone down, Yzak."

"Are you going to talk?"

"No."

"Then I guess I'll have to talk to Athrun," Yzak shrugged. "Or I guess I could always call Miriallia and ask her."

"No! Don't!" Dearka ordered, his dead eyes suddenly looking slightly panicked.

"Or you could just save me the drama and tell me now," Yzak pointed out calmly. He could see Dearka try to think of a way to side step the issue entirely, but he knew how stubborn Yzak could become when he set his mind to something.

"Fine," Dearka gave in, sinking deeper into his chair and staring at his hands. Yzak put the phone back in its cradle and sat down on his chair. With his elbows on his desk, the young commander folded his hands together in front of his face and watched his silent friend.

"I'm waiting," Yzak pressed after a few minutes passed and Dearka made no effort to speak. The blonde shifted awkwardly in his seat and swallowed hard as he tried to put what had happened back in Orb into words.

Sighing, Dearka thought it best to just get it over with. "Well, I went to Earth to speak with Cagalli and Athrun and a few other officials about the views of the ZAFT soldier's and – "

"I know that," Yzak interrupted.

"Do you want to hear this or not?"

"I want to know why you're in this mood."

"And I'm telling you."

"Now you're not! You're just repeating stuff I already knew!"

"Well it's all inter-related. You see, I was talking with Athrun and Cagalli and – "

"Dearka!"

"I'm getting there!" Dearka snapped. "I was talking with Athrun and Cagalli and while I was there it was brought to their attention that there had been several anti Coordinator attacks occurring in the Orb Unioin."

"Coordinators can handle some stupid Naturals attacks," Yzak _huff_ed. He hadn't quite dropped all the prejudice he had carried around during the war though everyone who really knew him knew that he had in fact made a vast improvement in that particular area, thought he did tend to back slide a bit.

"They aren't just attacking Coordinators. They're also attacking any Naturals who might have any connection with Coordinators," Dearka noted sadly. Yzak simply stared at the blonde, too shocked for words. Dearka quickly resumed his silence as he let his commander digest this knew information.

"_What?"_ Yzak exclaimed as soon as he cleared his mind enough to remember how to speak. Dearka didn't say anything, but he nodded slightly to indicate that his words were true. Yzak slammed his fists down on the desk again and got to his feet in order to pace his office. "What is the sense in that? Attacking your own kind to try and defeat and enemy? The cowards! Are Naturals really that stupid?"

"Apparently they think that it'll help drive the Coordinators back to space while they stay on Earth. Then the two populations can just live in their own little worlds and have nothing to do with the other," Dearka explained and Yzak had a sudden sick feeling as to why Dearka had returned early. "I left because one of those groups found Miriallia and attacked her in an ally way."

Furious beyond words, Yzak swiftly kicked his solid desk which did more damage to his foot then the piece of furniture. When he had first heard of Dearka's attachment to Miriallia Haww, he had hated her immensely. He believed that it was that turquoise eyed Naturals fault that Dearka had turned traitor to his own kind to fight alongside Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Yula Athha and the Archangel. That damn minx had bewitched Dearka to even fight alongside the Strike; an enemy they had tried so hard and for so long to destroy. Yzak had hated her and was furious at Dearka for such a desertion. Dearka kept repeating that he could no longer follow Patrick Zala's corrupt orders, which Yzak could sort of understand, but he couldn't help but wonder if his friend would be so willing to fight alongside the Legged Ship if it hadn't been for that skirt that was on there.

But when he had been forced to get to know Miriallia outside of battle conditions, the unsocial commander couldn't help but see why his idiot friend had become so enthralled with her. She was very smart – not like the rest of those airheads Dearka had hooked up with in the past – and extremely passionate. Yzak had once scoffed at how quick to cry she was, but then he realized he could hardly blame her for wearing her emotions so openly and so intensely. For a Natural, she was incredible strong in spirit and was as quick to defend something she believed in as she was to cry. But most importantly she made Dearka annoyingly happy without taking any of his crap. If she was a ditz like Dearka's former girls, it was take her ten minutes to work out how to respond to someone if they said 'good morning' and just let Dearka waffle crap till the cows came home. Miriallia, however, was even better at keeping the enthusiastic blonde under control than his commander was.

And the idea that some stinking Natural would hunt her down and attack her because of her relationship with Dearka made Yzak visibly shake with rage.

"_What?!" _

"Athrun happened to be walking by when it happened, so he was able to them stop pretty quickly, but if he hadn't been there, who knows how far those men could have gone," Dearka told his commander in the same cold, emotionless voice. He figured it would be better if he just removed himself emotionally from the whole thing. It hurt less that way.

"Then what are you doing here?!" Yzak demanded. "Why aren't you with her?! Why aren't you out on the streets of Orb looking for those bastards?!"

"Because she got attack because I was there in the first place. They attacked her because of her connection with a Coordinator. Remove the problem, remove the danger."

"You idiot! You know that isn't true!"

"It makes sense."

"No it doesn't! You're abandoning her when she needs to the most! Coward!"

"I left to protect her! Can't you see that?"

"No! If you wanted to protect her, you wouldn't run from these bastards! You go find them and make them pay! Not go hide in space! You realize you're going exactly what they want you to do? You're letting them win!"

"I'm not!" Dearka snarled as he leapt to his feet. He turned his amethyst eye to look at his commander for the first time since he had mentioned the attack on Miriallia and death glared him. "Going out and killing someone to make them pay is not the answer, Yzak! I know that! I'm sorry but I'm not an animal like you!

"That's enough Elsman!" Yzak cut off his friend sharply. His was still the commander here and he would not be spoken to like that. "You are still under my command, don't forget that."

"I've had enough of this," Dearka spat, turning on heel and storming towards the door, which didn't please Yzak in the slightest.

"Don't you dare leave until I dismiss you, Elsman!" Yzak shouted, but it was too late. Dearka was already gone, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

_TBC_


	6. Chapter 6

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Six**

Miriallia sighed to herself as she stared aimlessly at the fire in Cagalli's private living quarters from her place in one of the large arm chairs. The young Natural had spent most of her time at Cagalli's palace since her attack, and her mood remained as gloomy as the weather. The skies were grey and showered were almost a daily occurrence, but Miriallia took no notice to the passing days as all her thoughts were focused on one person somewhere out in space.

Why did he have to leave? Her life seemed so empty since his departure and all she wanted was for him to come home to her. He had ignored all of hers, Athrun's and Cagalli's calls and Yzak was of little to no help. The Duel pilot kept Athrun up to speeds with how Dearka was going – apparently he was about the same as Miriallia – but he hadn't been able to convince his friend to return to Earth or at least call.

Sighing again, Miriallia lifted her feet off the ground and hugged her knees. She could remember how badly she had wanted to bring Tolle back to her after he had died, and although it wasn't quite the same with her current situation, she did notice how similar the feeling with Dearka was. The only difference was that Dearka could come back. He just chose not to.

Burying her face into her knees, Miriallia fought off the tears that swelled in her eyes. She had cried so much over the last few days it was ridiculous. She kept thinking that if Dearka was with her how he'd laugh at her and then call her a crybaby, but that just made her cry more since he wasn't going to be there to call her such names.

"Hey," a soft voice whispered alongside her, which was followed by someone placing a warm hand on her shoulder. Miriallia jumped and looked up to see Cagalli standing along side her chair. She hadn't even heard the blonde girl enter the room. "How you feeling?"

"Bout the same," Miriallia sniffed turning back to the fire. Cagalli took a seat in one of the other big chairs, but she watched the other girl instead of the fire, a look of concern on her face.

'I'm going to kill Dearka next time I see him for doing this to her,' Cagalli thought to herself as Athrun entered the room. Miriallia noticed his entrance this time, and turned her hopeful turquoise to him.

"Any news?"

"Well, we managed to find a photo of a man that fits the description of Julian Tein you gave us," Athrun said, taking a photo out of the envelope he was carrying. He did not, however, show it to Miriallia right way. "Would you be able to look at it and try to identify if it is in fact that same man?"

"Yes," Miriallia nodded and Athrun hesitantly turned to photo around for her to see. Miriallia couldn't help but shiver as she looked into the dark eyes of the man that had ordered the attack on her and she quickly averted her eyes. "Yes, that's him alright."

"Is there any file on him?" Cagalli asked as Athrun returned to photo to it's envelope to avoid causing Miriallia any more distress.

"Not as Julian Tien, but he fits the profile of a Julian Bain; a solider with the Earth Alliance. He was one of the survivors of the ZAFT attack on Panama, those he didn't come out of it without losing his leg and getting a decent share of shrapnel in his skin. Apparently he was the only one out of his entire platoon to make it out alive though he was so injured there was no way he could partake in any more battles after that."

"Well, he seems to have a reason to hate Coordinators," Cagalli noted. "When does Julian Tien enter the picture?"

"Exactly where Julian Bain stops," Athrun informed her. "Right after the war finished and peace was declared, Bain vanished but talk of an anti Coordinator group started coming out with a Julian Tien as leader. A few months later, the first of the attacks started."

"So we get rid of him, we stop these attacks?" Cagalli asked to which Athrun nodded. "We just need to come up with a way to find him."

"Is there any other news?" Miriallia asked, and Athrun knew what she really meant.

"No, I'm sorry Mir, but there's been no word from Yzak or anyone else in space," Athrun informed her as gently as he could, but her face still fell and she went back to staring at the fire. Sighing, Athrun moved over to her side and softly place his hand on her shoulder. "He'll come to his senses."

"It's been days and still nothing. Oh Athrun, why did he leave me like that?" Miriallia asked, her voice thick with anguish. Usually, whenever someone tried to comfort her, she'd just block them out and let their words wash over her unhearing ears, but now it seemed like she was finally ready to get a lot of her hurt off her chest.

"He thought he was doing the right thing to keep you safe," Athrun explain, rubbing her back.

"He thought wrong," Cagalli grumbled from her place by the fire, but both Athrun and Miriallia chose to ignore her comment.

"But why would he feel that way? Doesn't he know how much I need him? After Tolle . . . After I lost Tolle I didn't think I'd ever get over that pain, but then I turned around and found Dearka all nicely tied up and everything," Miriallia recalled, a ghost of a smile brushing her lips and the memory.

"You two certainly met under interesting circumstances," Athrun smiled. "But then again, so did me and Cagalli."

"It makes for an interesting relationship," Cagalli grinned, then instantly regretted her words as Miriallia dropped her face back into her knees.

"Why hasn't he come back to me?" Miriallia cried, her tears finally spilling over.

"He will. He just needs some time," Athrun assured. "He feels responsible for what happened to you and you know how horrible he feels and how guilty he gets whenever he hurts you. You have to understand how badly Dearka took it when you were attacked. He blamed himself and nothing I could do could talk him out of that frame of thinking. Then he met some guy call Nate who kinda encouraged his dark thinking and – "

"Wait! What?" Miriallia asked, jerking her face out of her knees to stare at Athrun.

"Um, Dearka just had some really dark thoughts that no one could get rid of so he – "

"No! You said something about a guy called Nate!" Miriallia stressed. "When did he meet Dearka?"

"Er, the same night he left. Dearka said he wanted some air so we went to a bar," Athrun explained. "We were just about to leave to come back here when I had to go to the bathroom. When I come back, Dearka was talking with some guy called Nate. He seemed nice enough, but I think he may have accidentally said something to make Dearka decide to leave."

"He seemed rather nice?" Miriallia repeated.

"Yeah. He was just some random guy we meet at the pub."

"Ahtrun, Nate is Tolle's cousin and he hates Coordinators since he blames them for Tolle's death," Miriallia explained, making both Athrun's and Cagalli's eyes widen. "I saw him the day before I was attacked and got in a fight with him over it."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Cagalli asked.

"I didn't think of it till know. But all I know is that there would be no way he would be nice to any Coordinators because of what they did in the war."

"Does he know what Dearka looks like?" Athrun asked, his mind going a mile a minute.

"Um, yeah. I'm pretty sure he saw one of the photo's I took of Dearka. Why?"

"Because I think we just found our link to Julian Tien."

* * *

Since virtually all the construction that was happening in the capital city of Orb were for large building and sky scrapers, Miriallia wasn't surprised when she stepped onto a site that was primarily made up of steel work. What she wasn't prepared for was the sharp smell freshly cut steel gave off or the amount of noise that come with putting those massive beams into place. Normally civilians like her wouldn't be allowed on such a dangerous site, but she had permission from Princess Cagalli and a reason for being there that would not be argued no matter who came up against her. 

It didn't take her long to find the person she was looking for. Bent over a large, steel beam making sure that the measurements were right was Nate. The wavy brown hair that stuck out from under his hard hat was littered with metal shaving and other mess he had collected around the work site, and Miriallia could barely smoother the wave of hatred that swelled inside her as she looked at the boy that so resembled her former love. But right now she had a mission, and she was not going to let anything – not even her own emotions – get in her way.

"Hey Nate. How you going?" Miriallia greeted sweetly as if he had never said those horrible things to her to her and told a racist faction about her. Nate jumped and bolted up right, staring at her with panicked green eyes as if she was a deadly animal.

"Miriallia?" he gasped. His face had suddenly gone very pale and he looked like he was about to be sick. "What . . . What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping in. Seeing how you're going," Miriallia answered very causally. "Your building's coming along nicely."

Nate gaped at her like a goldfish for a few seconds before he managed to get the slightest shred of self control. "Um, thanks. Er . . ."

"Aren't you going to ask how I am?"

"Um . . . How . . . How are you?"

"Oh I'm great," Miriallia lied cheerfully. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me."

"Oh? With what?" Nate asked hesitantly.

"I'm looking for a friend of mine I met recently and I have a feeling you might know him. His name is Julian. Julian Bain. Do you know him?" Miriallia asked innocently. Nate had nearly gone into a panic at the name Julian, but when Miriallia had said the last name he let out a noticeable sigh of relief.

"Julian Bain?" Nate laughed nervously, before letting out another breath of relief. "No. No. Sorry. I never heard of anyone by that name before. Sorry, Mir. Wish I could help but I can't tell you what I don't know."

"Oh, okay. What about someone called Julian Tein?" Miriallia asked coldly and suddenly Nate didn't look so relieved. "Does that ring any bells?"

Nate stared at her in horror, his breathing suddenly becoming shallow. The boy lifted up his helmet to run a nervous hand through his hair before swallowing hard. "Miriallia, you – "

"Why'd you do it?" Miriallia cut him off before he had a chance to explain or even answer her question. She didn't need him to answer it. His reaction from the moment she said hello to him spoke louder than words. "Why did you tell them about me?"

"They don't deserve to be here, Mir. They're not natural – "

"So you guys figured you beat them or use their feelings against themselves to force them into exile? They may have been genetically altered but what you're doing is just inhuman," Miriallia accused. Neither of them noticed another construction worker not far for them reach for the phone that was attached to his belt.

"Mir, I – "

"Don't call me that!" Miriallia snapped. "You have to right to even say my name after what you did. You told those men about my relationship with Dearka and where they could find me. Didn't you? You told me exactly where I would be so they could pick me up and assault me. They were going to beat me within an inch of my life and you helped arranged it. They would have no doubt done more then that if Athrun hadn't shown up. Yes, that _murderer_ as you call him was the one who saved me from your . . . your wicked plan."

"You have to listen to me. They swore to me that they were just going to have words with you. If they were going to hurt anyone they said it would be that Coordinator you were seeing," Nate told her, trying desperately to show Miriallia that he never indented to cause her any harm. It was Dearka they wanted, not her. They just wanted that space monster off their planet. Nate never would have thought they would have had to have gone through Miriallia to do that.

"And is that supposed to make it any better? Don't you know that would hurt me just as much has their fists? Dearka makes me happy. Happier then I would have ever imagined after the pain I went through when your cousin died and you drove him away from me. He left because he thought it was the only way to protect me from men like you."

"But – "

"We used to be friends."

"I know but – "

"Then shouldn't you want me to be happy?"

"Yes but – "

"You know, I'm so glad Tolle isn't around to see was a creep his cousin has turned into," Miriallia spat, and Nate visibly flinched at her scornful words. He had beaten himself up over the last few days because he knew that Tolle would have never approved of what he had done to Miriallia. Hell, he wouldn't have approved if he had done it to someone he had never even met before.

"I know it was wrong," Nate admitted, "but dammit, I can't stand the thought of those Coordinators living on Earth when it was one of them who killed Tolle."

"But this isn't what Tolle would have wanted from you. From anyone. Tolle never cared that Kira was a Coordinator. He saw people for what was in their hearts, not in their genes. And Tolle would have wanted me to be happy, which is what Dearka does to me. He makes me happy. And after everything I've been through, don't I deserve that?"

"Yes," Nate answered softly, hanging his head.

"Dearka would gladly lay down his life to protect me, just as Tolle would have. Is there really any difference between the two? You would have seen how much Dearka cares for me and how much it hurt him to think he was responsible for what happened to me that night you talked to him in the bar," Miriallia said, and Nate's head shot up to stare at her in shock. "Yes, I know about that. How could you do that to him when all he did was love me?"

"I . . . I . . ." Nate stammered as tears began to swell in his eyes as Miriallia's words began to take effect. He had thrown her to the wolves when he should have been looking out for her like Tolle would have wanted. Suddenly Nate had an overwhelming feeling like he was going to be sick. "Oh god."

"You can help us stop this madness. You can stop such needless violence that is almost exactly like the needless violence that killed Tolle in the past. Tell us where we can find Julian Tein and we'll be able to put an end to all this," Miriallia begged. She would have preferred to have never laid eyes on Nate after everything he had done, but they needed to find Julian if there was going to be any change to ending this discrimination. "Please Nate, help us to help others."

Nate was silent for a moment as he tried to find his voice. His green eyes were a mix between anguish and self loathing and he had gone very pale. And then, numbly, he nodded. "Okay."

"Okay," Miriallia nodded back, turning to leave the construction site. "Let's go."

The pair hadn't gotten very far when a set of strong hands took firm hold of Mirillia's shoulders and pulled her behind a huge pile of building materials. A second later, another pair of hands grabbed Nate. Miriallia tried to scream, but the sound was muffled by the hand that was covering her mouth. Then she felt a strong blow to the head and everything went black.

In the van that was waiting for her just outside the construction site, the homing beacon they were using to track the girl suddenly went dead and they lost all contact with her.

* * *

_TBC_


	7. Chapter 7

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven**

"Where are we going?" Dearka grumbled as he slouched deeper into his chair aboard the space shuttled he and Yzak were on.

"It's not important that you know," Yzak stated coldly, not lifting his blue eyes from the magazine in front of him. Why did Dearka have to question everything they did? Why couldn't he just be a good soldier and do as he was told?

"You wake me up in the middle of the night and drag me onto a shuttle that I have no idea where it's heading to and then you don't tell me what we're doing? That's hardly fair."

"You weren't sleeping," Yzak pointed out calmly. In addition to skipping meals, Dearka was finding little rest whenever he was allowed to chance for some sleep and it showed on his face making him look rather sickly. As a Coordinator, Dearka had never really been sick so Yzak had been rather shocked to see his friend in such a state, not that he'd ever let Dearka know that.

"That's beside the point," Dearka sulked, turning his attention to the space outside his window. He stared aimlessly out into the blackness that stretched out before him, and after a few minutes he suddenly noticed what he was looking at. They weren't going to a colony or to another ship. "We're going to Earth, aren't we?"

"Well, that's where this ship is supposed to go but who knows where we'll end up with pilots these days," Yzak said in a purposely off handed tone.

"Yzak!"

"Oh sit down."

"You know I can't go back there! I can't see Miriallia for her own safety! Dammit, that's why I left!" Dearka shouted, ignoring the stares of the other passengers in the half empty shuttle.

"We're not going to see Miriallia," Yzak noted, silently amused with the role reversal. Normally it was him who would break into a fit of rage while Dearka was annoyingly calm.

"What?" Dearka asked dumbly, and Yzak fought back to the urge to grin at the stupid look on his best friends face.

"We're not going to see Miriallia," Yzak repeated, returning his eyes to the magazine. "Athrun called me and demanded that you and I come to Orb immediately on a matter of great importance. He and Cagalli are waiting for us, but the assured me that Miriallia would not be there when we arrive."

"Since when do you take orders from Athrun?" Dearka asked suspiciously, but at least he stopped yelling. He also slowly lowered himself back into his seat.

"Since he used Cagalli's political power to go over my head and talk to the Council directly. This is a direct order, not an excuse for me to try and settle a lovers tiff."

"You sure she won't be there?" Dearka asked, ignoring the opportunity of to point out that this was probably the first time in their entire friendship that he had heard Yzak use the word tiff.

"Positive."

"You know, me just returning to Orb might be enough to put her in danger."

"Don't get above yourself. I'm hardly doubt anyone – be it anti Coordinator or otherwise – really cares about your movements. The world doesn't revolve around you," Yzak said in an indifferent tone. Dearka _hump_ed and returned to looking out the window in silence for the remainder of the trip.

* * *

"She's going to kill me," Dearka muttered as he and Yzak ascended the front steps of Cagalli's palace. 

"Miriallia?"

"No, Cagalli," Dearka answered as the doorman let them into the massive front foyer. It was there that the two ZAFT soldiers waiting for their hosts to arrive to greet them.

"You're not scared of her are you?"

"No, I'm terrified," Dearka admitted as the sound of the hard heels of someone's boots clicking against the polished stone floor reached his ears. Seconds later, Cagalli bolted out of one of the hallways, her face livid and her fist raised.

"You idiot!" she shouted as her fist connected with Dearka's jaw. The blonde Coordinator reeled backwards in shock. For a princess, that girl had a mean right hook. "Why did you leave?! You should have stayed here with Mir! She need you, you jerk!"

"Cagalli," Athrun pleaded, trying to restrain his girlfriend.

"You idiot!"

"Are you quite done?" Dearka asked, massaging his cheek where Cagalli had hit him. He saw her eyes narrow dangerously, but he chose to ignore it. "Now what do you two want? The sooner we get this out of the way the sooner we can leave."

Athrun stared at Dearka in disbelief for an uncomfortable amount of time, before turning on Yzak in a mixture of anger and horror. _"You didn't tell him?!"_

"What do you think? I had to be on a shuttle with him," Yzak pointed out, folding his arms across his chest.

"Wait, what?" Dearka asked stupidly, a horrible sinking feeling settling into his guts.

Athrun composed himself and regarded his former blonde comrade with a look that was almost pitiful before he sighed. "I think you'd better come into the sitting room for this."

"Just tell me Athrun!" Dearka demanded, but he followed Athrun into one of the lounge rooms Cagalli had on offer. He even allowed Cagalli lead him over to one of the couched but he refused to sit down. Everything about the way everyone was acting just screamed that something wasn't right. "What's wrong?"

"Miriallia's missing," Athrun answered and those two words hit Dearka like a bucket of ice cold water. Everything went numb and he stopped breathing for a second and he slowly sunk into the couch that was behind him while Athrun continued to give him all the information. "She went undercover to see if should could find the leader of the anti Coordinator group that attacked her. Our sources show that she was heading back to our agents when her homing beacon went dead. We searched the site where she was last confirmed, but there were no traces of her or the individual she went to speak with. We called you here as soon as it happened and we're doing everything in our power to find her."

"Is it possible that the person she went to go speak with was the one who kidnapped her?" Yzak asked as Dearka was swept up in his own emotions. Cagalli had lost her initial anger and placed a supportive hand on Dearka's shoulder.

"It's anyone's guess at the moment," Athrun shrugged. "We've got every man we can on this case but without some kind of lead we're – "

"Athrun!" Kisaka interrupted, striding into the room with his normal formality lost. "We found him."

"What?"

"They're bringing him up to the house now."

"They're bringing that scum here? To my house?" Cagalli spat as she, Athrun followed Kisaka back to the foyer, leaving Yzak to try and deal with the still emotionally shell shocked Dearka.

"They're bringing him here so he can be questioned while the medical staff here can treat him," Kisaka explained calmly.

"Medical treatment?" Cagalli repeated. "Why does he need that?"

Her question was answered for her when her front doors opened to revile a young man about her age supported by two members of her secret service. The young man between the two was beaten and bloodied and there was no deny that he needed immediate medical attention. His lips were busted and there was a constant flow of blood spilling from his mouth. His eyes were swollen and turning black and deep purple busies were appearing all over his skin which could be seen through his ripped clothes. With each breath he winced, indicating that his ribs were also busied if not broken. He could not walk on his own and each of his fingers was at odd angels as if someone had broken them all one by one. And despite all his injuries, Athrun clearly recognized him as the guy called Nate that Dearka had spoke at the bar the night Miriallia was attacked and he had left.

"We found him lying in a vacant lot down town," one of the men holding him up explained. "He said that Julian's men did this to him because he was going to tell us everything. He says that the only reason he's still alive is so he can tell you that if we keep searching for Julian and allow Coordinators to reside in Orb, they're going to do all this and more to Miriallia."

"You have to stop him," Nate gurgled over his own blood. He was almost delirious with pain, but he tried to clear his mind in order to help Athrun and Cagalli find Miriallia. "You have to save her . . . Please . . . Tolle, I'm so sorry . . ."

"Get him to the medical bay," Cagalli ordered, no longer certain if she hate the traitor in front of her or pitied him. "We can question him once his injuries are seen to."

"Wait!" Nate stopped the men. "Julian's base of operations is an old warehouse on the waterfront that was damaged during the war. It's deserted now, but he's been using it hold meeting and as a place where they can hold some of their victims. That's where he took me and Miriallia. That where he . . ." he trailed off, looking at his broken hands. "He'll have her there."

"How do we know his isn't a trap?" Cagalli asked, not trusting someone who sold out their own friends in the way he had.

"It isn't. I swear," Nate pleaded, before looking directly at Athrun. "You may have kill my cousin Tolle, but please, save Miriallia."

Athrun stared at the Natural coldly, but he nodded no the less. The two men took Nate off to the medical bay and Cagalli and Athrun returned to the lounge room where Yzak was failing miserably to try and comfort Dearka. The blonde Coordinator had his head in his hands and his entire body was trembling as his emotions churned through him.

"Why'd she do it?" he asked in a wavering voice as soon as Cagalli and Athrun re-entered the room.

"Because she didn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else," Cagalli answered and after hesitating she decided to tell him Miriallia's other reasons for wanting to find Julian since she was still kind of mad that Dearka had done a runner on her friend. "And she wanted to get rid of Julian and his anti Coordinator members so you would come back to her."

"Oh god," Dearka stammered, sounding like he was going to be sick.

"Cagalli," Athrun said disapprovingly. He was just as disappointed with his friend for running off to space when Miriallia needed him the most, but it was not the time to go through all that now. "But don't worry. We know where Julian's base is. We're going to get her back."

"I think it'll be best if you wait here," Cagalli suggested though her face became puzzled when she and the two boys noticed a sudden transformation in Dearka's mood. His body stopped trembling and his breathing returned to normal. Everything about him suddenly still.

"No. I'm coming," Dearka said in a voice that was far too composed for the situation that was facing him. Ever since Yzak and Athrun first met Dearka, the blonde had always been the one to have a better hold of his emotions. He had never let himself get blinded by rage like Yzak or regret and grief like Athrun had in the past. Out of the three of them it had been Dearka who had kept his head when Nicol was killed due to his calm – almost cold – attitude. But as he raised his face out of his hands to face the situation head on, his amethyst eyes were has hard as stone and his expression was as cold as ice.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Athrun told him, a little worried at his friends suddenly calm composer. Athrun had fought countless people over the years and had learnt a long time ago that a cold blooded enemy was much more dangerous that a hot bloodied enemy. A hot blooded enemy acted out of pure emotion and as a result often made careless and costly mistakes. A cold blooded enemy on the other hand did not make such reckless moves based on emotion and as a result was more exact in their attacks. They also seemed have disregarded their fear of their own death along with their emotions.

"Athrun, you're not thinking logically. You know for a fact that Julian is an ex soldier from the war and he's no doubt using every bit of information he learnt in the military to command his following. What's more, you don't even know how many members he's managed to recruit and I can imagine that a majority of them are ex soldiers as well. And I'm sure that Cagalli has excellent men working for her, but you don't know exactly what you're up against so you need as many experienced soldiers as you can get," Dearka pointed out calmly.

"He's got a point," Yzak said in an almost regretful voice to Athrun.

"You're too emotionally involved in this mission, Dearka," Athrun tired to counter with. "And that could be hazardous to the mission."

"Well then by that count you should not be participating in this mission and neither should Cagalli," Dearka retaliated in that same even tone. "Miriallia is your friend and I know that you've always felt in some ways responsible for her since it was you who took Tolle away from her."

"It's not the same as how you feel for her."

"But you can't forget that I used to be a Red Coat Elite and the only reason I was demoted to Green was because of my views, not my skill. My experience is invaluable to a mission like this."

Athrun gritted his teeth and rubbed his eyes as he tried to get control of the frustration he was feeling. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't ignore the fact that every argument Dearka had put to him made sense. Finally he gave an animal like grow before giving in. "Alright. But you are to stick to the orders Yzak and myself put to you and that's final. I don't want you going off to look for Miriallia on your own, got it?"

"Yes sir."

* * *

When Miriallia had finally regained consciousness, she discovered that she was bound to a chair with a blindfold across her eyes and gag in her mouth. Not to mention she had the worse headache she had ever had in her life. She tried calling out for someone, but the material in her mouth muffled any sound. At one stage she thought she heard the sound of someone screaming and she noticed with a sinking feel how similar it sounded like Nate. And then all that followed was silence and blackness. 

Time crawled on. It had been mid morning when she had gone to see Nate at his construction site but now she guessed that night had fallen. And in that time between when she had been abducted and now she had yet to been addressed by her abductors. She had been given no food or water and hadn't even been offered a chance to go to the bathroom. All she had done was sit on her chair in the darkness, until . . .

"Hello my dear," a deep voice that sent chills down her spin greeted, and a second later the blindfold about her eyes was lifted. Miriallia blinked and looked about her surroundings. The large warehouse was filled with shadows that had crept in for the night outside and the only things lighting the vast space was several factory lights that glowed faintly and barely did anything to keep off the enclosing darkness. The building had clearly not seen any major business in years and almost looked as though it had been disserted. Large sections of it appeared to be damaged though not enough to make it fall down. And standing right in front of her was the scarred Julian Tien. "It's so good to see you again."

Behind her, the same goon that had lifted her blindfold then removed the gag that was between her teeth before leaving the girl alone with her captor. Miriallia glared hatefully through the gloom at the man that had caused her so much pain over the last few days. "Let me go, Julian."

"I'm sorry, my dear, but that's just not an option," Julian said, taking a seat of his own across from her. "You see, things were going so perfectly for us. We managed to scare that little blonde Coordinator back up to space and we demonstrated to Princess Cagalli that there were none that were immune to our cause. But then you had to keep digging to try and put a stop to us and that's just something we can't allow to happen. If we want our way of life to survive, we must remove ourselves from those who have contaminated."

"Coordinators aren't contaminated!" Miriallia shouted, straining against the ropes that held her to her chair.

"Oh but they are. They are a tainted race of life that must be removed from all that is pure, which is the Earth and the life that she produces naturally. The Coordinators have no right to the Earth. When they twisted their very beings into their unnatural state they gave up the right to the Earth and committed themselves to space. All we are doing is enforcing what they had already agreed to."

"But it's wrong! This whole thing is wrong! You can't deny a person the right to our home planet!"

"It's not their home planet any more and we need to enforce that to them and to ourselves," Julian said, his voice becoming slightly raised. "How will we survive if there are Naturals out there who sympathize with the Coordinators? Deep down every Natural detests Coordinators but we've become so blinded by political correctness that we are afraid to face what we know is true. Too many Naturals are abandoning the fight for our Earth and forgetting that Coordinators aren't like us. They're our enemies. They've killed too many son and daughters of the natural way of life to be forgive. You're little friend Nate forgot that."

"What did you do to him?" Miriallia demanded. "What did you do?"

"Just a little reeducation is all. Your friend was more that happy to go along with the idea of our cause, but when he saw it in action he couldn't handle it. It just goes to show how tightly Lacus Clyne and her Coordinators have on us. She even has Princess Cagalli Yula Athha wrapped around her little finger."

"Cagalli is not wrapped around anyone's finger," Miriallia growled. "She's doing what she know is right."

"She's doing what she thinks is right because of that Zala spy brainwashed her."

"Athrun is not a spy."

"He's Lacus Clyne's underling and at her command he associated himself with Athha to sway her judgment to allow in Coordinator invasion to continue unabated. Only by removing the Coordinator threat can we truly have peace."

"You can't divide and confine people and then call that peace. That's insanity. People can't solve all their problems by just shutting their eyes too it. We need to realize that we have to live with one another and show humility. We can't just go through life only thinking of ourselves."

"And just who do you think your blonde Coordinator was thinking of when he left for space? Hmm?" Julian asked with a smirk. "Who was he thinking of when he decided to abandon you?"

"He only left because you made him believe that if he remained on Earth you would continue to hurt me. He was – "

"He was thinking of himself and his own protection," Julian interrupted, moving over so his face was very close to hers. "He knew there were attacks here against his kind so he left to save himself. He didn't even think of you. And while you're here telling me how we should all live along side one another and allow this freak fest you like to call a relationship continue, there is still one point that you have blinded yourself too; your Coordinator didn't love you enough to stay."

Miriallia couldn't stop the tears that welled in her eyes as his words washed over her. Ever since Dearka had left there had been a part of her mind saying the exact same thing, though she refused to dwell on it for too long. It just couldn't be true. She knew she was in love with Dearka, and she needed him to love her in return. "You're lying."

"You're lying to yourself," Julian grinned, delighted to see that he had hit a nerve. "Your freak of nature has been only looking out for him self since the day he was born. You know Coordinators and how competitive they are. Do you think he'd really care for a Natural like you? In their eyes there are – "

"Sir!" one of Julian's men interrupted, running out of the dark to where the man was speaking with their hostage. "You've been found out. There are several of Princess Cagalli's private forces closing in on us. And they're being lead by Athrun Zala."

"Send all our forces out to meet them. Do what you must. We cannot let these Coordinator sympathizers to infiltrate our base. Go!" Julian ordered and the man quickly moved of to do as was commanded. After running a scarred hand though his dark hair, Julian looked at Miriallia and grinned wickedly. "Lead by Athrun Zala. That's the second time he's come to save you."

"And he'll succeed."

"I doubt that, but I do find it rather interesting that in the two times we've spoken, there has been no sign of you're lover. He doesn't even love you enough to come save you, my dear."

Miriallia forced her tears not to fall and set her face as hard as stone. With a raised chin she stared coldly at Julian. "You better hope Dearka isn't out there, because I know he loves me enough to want to hunt you down and make you pay for everything you've done."

Julian chuckled. "We'll see, my dear. We'll see."

* * *

"I don't like this," Yzak said softly to Athrun as they slowly moved in on the warehouse that Nate had directed them to. The warehouse had been partly damaged during the Bloody Valentine War, but not enough to make it unsafe so it would have to be torn down. Instead the warehouse reconstruction had been pushed back until the cities more important buildings to be completed so the abandoned warehouse was a perfect place for an anti Coordinator group to congregate. 

"You think Nate was trying to tick us?"

"No, I believe he felt guilt and tried to make it right. It's Dearka I'm worried about."

Athrun glanced over at the blonde Coordinator. Ever since he had suddenly gained control of his emotions, Dearka had taken to keeping to himself, sometime seeming completely detached from what was happening around him. Currently, the Green Coat soldier was sitting quietly in the back of one of the vans they had used to transport them to the warehouse. He had a rife resting against his shoulder and his head was bowed, just staring at the ground. A silent Dearka wasn't anything out of the usual, but there was definitely something disturbing about the way he was acting now. "Least he's not angry."

"Dammit Zala, it would be better if he was angry," Yzak hissed. "You've seen guys like this in the past just as I have and you know how dangerous they can be. Who knows when he could suddenly snap and who knows what he'll do then?"

"Yzak, this is Dearka we're talking about – "

"Which is exactly why we shouldn't just ignore the possibility that something might go wrong. Like he said, he was a ZAFT Red Coat. He knows how to use a weapon and if he loses his self control there is no telling what could happen."

Athrun nodded as Yzaks words started to sink in. "Do you think it was a mistake to bring him along?"

Yzak contemplated the question for a second, glancing over to regard his friend again to help make up his mind. "As a commander, I'd say yes. But as a friend, I know there's no force in this universe that would be able to hold him back."

"I had a feeling you were going to say something like that," Athrun grumbled as Kisaka made his way over to them.

"Thermal imaging has confirmed sixteen people inside the warehouse," the older man informed the two Coordinators. He had not had an easy night after being swept up in a heated argument with Cagalli after he suggested it might be best if she stayed out of this mission. In the end, duty to her nation first won out over her desire to make the man who had kidnapped her best friend pay, but that still didn't mean she had lost any of her anger.

"Alright, we know one of them is Miriallia so she won't be trying to stop us," Athrun concluded. "Plus they'll have to leave a guard with her so we should be going up against fourteen at a maximum."

"We've got men post on all four sides of the warehouse. If any of Julian's men try to make a run for it, we'll catch them," Kisaka told them.

"Excellent. Let's move out."

Athrun and his men slowly crept through the darkness towards the warehouse. The night was still around them and everything was eerily calm, so when they finally made contact with Julian's men it shattered everything around them. Julian's men gave no warning when they started shooting and two of Athrun's men were hit with bullets before anyone could retaliate.

"Dammit!" Yzak hissed, ducking for cover behind several old tin barrels that were rusting away. He quickly cocked his gun and took aim. He calmed his breathing and heart beat and pulled back on the trigger. His entire upper body reeled as the bullet flew from his barrel into the shoulder of one of Julian's men, but he quickly steadied himself and got ready for another shot. Beside him behind the barrels was Dearka, who was firing shots with an unnervingly accurate precision. Even a soldier of ZAFT wasn't that mechanical.

As Athrun had predicted, there had been fourteen men that had come out to fight them, and it was clear that virtually all of them had had military training. But they were out numbered and they had no Coordinators with them so they were quickly overrun.

"Final count; fourteen arrests and zero fatalities," Kisaka noted to Athrun when the battle had quieted down. "Cagalli will be pleased."

"I think she'll be more disappointed that she wasn't able to come along," Athrun smiled for the first real time in days. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he turned and looked up at the older man. "I want you to oversee the medical treatment and transfer of these men. There's no doubt more out there so we'll need them fit for questioning. Yzak, Dearka and I will move into the warehouse from her and see if we can find Miriallia."

"And Julian," Kisaka added. "He was not amongst the men we arrested."

"He'll be inside keeping an eye on Miriallia, I'm sure."

"Will you be alright in there?"

"I think we can handle it," Athrun grinned, but that smile faded slightly when he heard Yzak call his name in a somewhat worried tone.

"Athrun!" Yzak shouted, looking around him. "Where's Dearka?"

* * *

_TBC_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

"So why Tein?" Miriallia asked, her voice echoing around the empty warehouse. Julian's men had moved out to intercept the group of people moving in on them, but Julian had remained behind to keep an eye on their prisoner, and so he'd have time to make an escape if need be.

"What?"

"Tein. You changed your last name from Bain to Tein. Why did you pick that last name?" Miriallia repeated. She really didn't care about the answer, but she wanted to try and cover up the faint sound of gunfire that was coming from outside. Plus, she wanted to get as much information on his kidnapper as possible just in case she did get free from him and found her way back to Athrun and Cagalli.

"Tein was the name of my commander at Panama," Julian grinned sickly. "That's where I lost my leg."

"So I've heard," Miriallia said indifferently. Unseen to Julian's dark eyes, Miriallia was slowly wiggling her hands out of the ropes that bound her hands behind her back. She was getting an incredible rope burn in the process but she had almost gotten one of her hands free.

"One of ZAFT's missiles hit the ground not far from where I was standing," Julian went on, to involved in his story to realize she was merely asking his as a distraction. "Commander Tein risked his life to drag me out of the firing zone, and then he ordered two men in our company to take me to the medics. I was on the last evacuation ships to get out of Panama before those ZAFT bastards murder everyone, including the rest of my company and Commander Tein. Which is why I'm doing all this. I'm continuing to fight in their name so those space monsters never set foot on Earth again. They deserve to rot in space."

"I'm sure they'll be thrilled," Miriallia spat, her hand just millimeters from being free. "I bet most of those men in your company were fighting for peace and now that we have it you're continuing the conflict which means that they died for nothing."

"Perhaps, but it's hardly fair that their enemies are able to have a peaceful life on Earth while they're gone, now is it?"

"There's nothing fair with war. Was it fair for me to watch Tolle and the rest of my friends vanish in front of my very eyes? Was it fair that good people who really had no desire to fight be forced into battle, and even into death?" Miriallia asked, thinking of Tolle and everything Dearka had told her about Nicol. It wasn't fair that either of them were gone, but that couldn't be help in war. War itself was meaningless so there were bound to be countless meaningless deaths within it.

"No it's not, but asking those questions doesn't solve anything. The only way we can really have peace is if we disown ourselves from the Coordinator race completely."

"And yet it's a fellow Natural that you've got tied to a chair here," Miriallia pointed out coldly. Julian grinned wickedly at her words, and moved over again so his face was inches from her own.

"You're not a fellow Natural," he leered. "You're a disgusting wench who is a mockery for everything we have fought and died for. Your very existence is a disgrace against our kind and the future we should be aiming for."

"Funny, that's exactly what I think of you," Miriallia snarled before literally spitting in his face. Julian's ghastly grin faded and he stood up to full height before wiping his face clean.

"You go too far, girl," he snarled, raising his hand to slap her across the face, but before he even begun to lower his blow a deafening bang filled the air as a bullet whizzed through the air. Who ever had fired that shot must have had exceptional good luck or extraordinary precise aim, because the bullet ripped right through the center of Julian's palm. Screaming in agonizing pain, Julian clutched his bleeding hand to his chest, too shocked to even make a grab for his own gun. Then a second bullet ripped through the air, this time hitting Julian in the knee of his good leg which instantly folded under itself and sent Julian crashing to the ground.

Miriallia sat frozen in her chair, too horrified to even look away. She had never seen anything as ghastly in all her life as she watch Julian shutter on the ground, a red pool of his own blood growing around him. The clinking of someone calmly reloading a gun reached her ears and finally she was able to tear her eyes away from the blood sight in front of her. But as she looked over into the shadows from where the sound had come from, her heart soared and her stomach dropped simultaneously.

Dearka was there, coolly reloading his rife but there was something about his face and his tranquil actions that chilled Miriallia's blood. She had never seen him so cold before. During the war, she had seen him go into 'soldier mood' before where he would stop at nothing to reach his goal and become completely removed from his own emotions so he was almost untouchable. But now he was at a level of that she had never seen and it scared her to see the man she loved like that. That was not the Dearka she knew.

Dearka finish reloading his gun and then carefully took aim again before firing, this time hitting Julian in the hip. The older man screamed painfully as Dearka casually made his way over to where is enemy was slowly bleeding to death. His amethyst eyes were as hard as ice and there was absolutely no emotion registering on his face.

"You know, I've heard that one of the best places to shot a man if you want him to have a painful and drawn out death is directly in the throat," Dearka said in an chillingly indifferent tone as he cocked is gun. "It's not enough to kill a man right off, but the victim slowly suffocates as air leaks out of the bullet hole. So if the blood loss doesn't kill you the lack of oxygen will and there's no way you can call out for help." (1)

"If you kill me . . . you'll prove that I'm right," Julian pointed out from his place on the ground. Dearka regarded him coldly, and then raised his rife and took aim at his throat.

"As long as I know you've suffered, I don't care," Dearka told him, toying with the trigger. All he had to do was squeeze and that bastard would be dead after several painful minutes. God knows how much Dearka had dreamed of doing this ever since Miriallia was attacked and he just wanted this asshole dead. He didn't care what the consequences might be. Julian Tien needed to be punished for his actions, and Dearka wouldn't settle for anyone else's hand but his own.

Dearka readied him self to fire, but then something warm and soft cupped over his trigger hand. Breaking out of his trance slightly, Dearka was shocked to see his Miriallia standing along side him. While Dearka and Julian's attention had been entirely on each other, Miriallia had managed to slip one of her hands free from her ties and wasted no time removing the others. Careful so as not to make any sudden moves, she had slowly approach Dearka while he was focusing on his shot and gently reached out to stop him. Dearka's amethyst eyes widened but they seemed more confused that alarmed.

Smiling softly, Miriallia reached over to cup his cheek with her other hand and Dearka quickly warmed to the touch. Unconsciously, he lowered his rifle and loosened his hold on the trigger. Her eyes swelling with tears, Miriallia slowly stepped closer to him and she could see his cold exterior start to waver.

"No more killing," she whispered gently and Dearka faintly nodded, his eyes becoming softer. Killing in the name of vengeance only lead to more killing and neither of them want to see that any more. With a clatter, Dearka let his rifle drop to the ground and Miriallia threw herself into his embrace, her face buried in his chest as her tears finally spilled over. As the warmth of her tiny form seeped into him, Dearka melted into her embrace, bowing his head so he was completely engulfing her with his body. He had missed the way her body fitted so perfectly next to his more than he could put into words so he simply held onto her tightly and the rest of the world seemed to disappear.

"Dearka!" Athrun's slightly panicked voice called as he and Yzak bolted into the warehouse. Both Coordinator's stopped short at the sight of Julian lying in his own blood but where even more taken back by how valuable their comrade looked as he tightly hugged the most important thing in the universe to him.

"I'm so sorry," Dearka whispered in Miriallia's ear, his voice almost overwhelmed with emotion.

"Shh. It's okay," Miriallia cooed, stroking his blonde hair. She pulled back slightly so she could look at his face, but she kept her body firmly pressed against his. "Just don't ever leave me again for whatever the reason. Okay?"

Dearka was too choked up to answer, so he simply nodded, his eyes lost in the way her turquoise ones glowed. Miriallia beamed at him, before standing on his tippy toes in order for her to press her lips against him. Dearka quickly responded to her affection, lifting her up in his arms to get better access and he shuttered in delight as her slender arms wrapped around his neck. He loved her, and he was never going to leave her again.

* * *

"Well, Julian and the rest of the men that got shot have been sent to the hospital for medical treatment but will be kept under a constant police watch," Athrun explained to Yzak as they were finishing up at the warehouse. "The two men that belong to us have also been taken to the hospital and should be fine." 

"You do know they've no doubt got other members still out there," Yzak said as the two former comrades made their way over to the vans that were standing by to take them back to Cagalli's palace.

"I know. Which is exactly why we're going to have to question Julian and all of his men that we picked up tonight. We can't let something like this happen again," Athrun said, opening the back door to the van he and Yzak were traveling in and climbed inside. Yzak slammed the door shut and the driver instantly started the engine and took off, but none of that disturbed the two there occupants in the back.

Upon being rescued, Miriallia refused to go to the hospital, choosing rather to return to Cagalli's place to seek medical treatment to her small wounds there. The small Natural was currently asleep in the warm embrace of Dearka who had also drifted off.

And even in his sleep he refused to let her go.

**The End. **

* * *

_(1) There was a man in the Bourne Identity that killed people that way_

_Wooh! My first Gundam Seed fic finished! I wrote this at a gallop right after I finsihed watching the series since I just had to put my own spin on my two favourite characters. I just love how they're so opposite and yet are still attracted to one another. _

_Not exactly your cliché knight-in-shining-armour routine since it's Milly who saves Dearka from doing something stupid, but I hope it works just the same. And to **Jays Arravan,**__ I tried to fit in Milly slapping Dearka for leaving her, but there so no place to stick it in since I always pictured it as the two of them being so happy to be together to be anger. But I'll give you free reign to imagine her beating the living day lights out of him once the sweetness of the reunion wares off._

_Anyways, thanx for reading. I hope you liked it and maybe I'll catch you on a later date. See ya!_

_Cheers, tears-in-rain_


End file.
